Executions soared to their highest number in almost a decade in 2023 with a sharp rise across the Middle East, Amnesty International said today as it released its annual report on the global use of the death penalty.

Malaysia's top court commuted the death sentence imposed on a Japanese woman for drug trafficking to 30 years in prison on May 29, 2024, following a judicial reform that eliminated mandatory capital punishment for illicit drug trade and several other serious offenses.

The Uttarakhand High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of repeatedly raping his five-year-old orphaned cousin, Lawbeat reported on May 28, 2024.

Bai Tianhui, former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings Limited, was sentenced to death for taking huge amounts of bribes by a court in Tianjin on May 28, 2024.

A Dhaka court on May 27, 2024 awarded death penalty to Botswana national Lesedi Molapisi in a narcotics case filled over drug smuggling.

261 executions in Iran in 2024

The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council announced on May 28, 2024 the execution of three ISIS fighters.

An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti division, on May 23, 2024 sentenced two persons, Benjamin Joseph (32), and Stephen Orban (25), to death by hanging for robbing two persons of cash and valuable items.

Four Johoreans have been given the death penalty in Malaysia after they were found guilty of trafficking 34, 282.3 grams of drugs while travelling into Sandakan in 2020, The Star reported on May 9, 2024.

The Federal Court on May 20, 2024 commuted the death sentence of a woman who murdered her close friend by stabbing her seven times to 33 years in jail.

A Kerala court on May 22, 2024 sentenced three accused, including a mother and her son, to death for murdering their 71-year-old neighbour near Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram in 2022.