BEIRUT — Lebanon has formally abolished the death penalty, going against the grain in a region where Iran and Saudi Arabia are reportedly the second- and third-biggest executors globally, after China.

Here’s a look at which countries in the Middle East and North Africa top the list of executioners, which have a moratorium on applying the death penalty, and whether others might follow Lebanon’s example.

According to an Amnesty International report, of at least 2,707 people executed globally in 2025, more than 95 per cent were in the Middle East and North Africa region, almost half for drug-related offences.

Amnesty said governments in the region use capital punishment “as a tool to repress dissent and crack down on actual or perceived national security threats, amid a resurgence of punitive drug policies”.

Iran alone accounted for 2,159 of those executions—Tehran’s highest recorded figure in more than 40 years, according to Amnesty—as authorities “intensified their use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression and control”, particularly after a 2025 war with Israel.

This year too, rights groups say Iran has been stepping up executions after protests in January and during the latest war launched on it by Israel and the United States.

This week, more than 30 countries accused Iran of executing protesters to “silence dissent”, criticism which Tehran brushed off.

Saudi Arabia carried out a record high of at least 356 executions last year, Amnesty said, “driven by an alarming increase in the number of drug-related cases”, most of which involved foreign nationals.

This year, Saudi authorities had already executed 130 people by August 13, according to an AFP tally based on official announcements.

Authorities say the penalty is compatible with Sharia law—the Islamic legal code based on the teachings of the Quran—and necessary to “maintain public order”.

Yemen was third regionally and fourth globally according to Amnesty, with at least 51 executions last year.

Egypt, with 23 executions, was sixth globally, trailing the United States.