Recorded executions worldwide reached 883 last year, the highest since 2017, according to an Amnesty International report that decried the Middle East and North Africa in particular.

The 2022 figure for 20 countries known to have executed people is a 53 percent increase on the previous 12 months, the global rights monitor said.

It excludes the “thousands” of prisoners put to death secretively in China, but does count the “staggering” 81 people executed in a single day in Saudi Arabia, it added.

China was believed to have led the way in the grisly ranking, ahead of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the US.

The death penalty is also used extensively in North Korea and Vietnam but as with China, figures there remain “shrouded in secrecy,” Amnesty said in the annual report. (AFP)