At least 1,634 people were executed by 25 countries last year alone, according to Amnesty International (AI). Its Death Penalty Report 2015-16, to be released on Wednesday, says the number shows an alarming 54 per cent increase over the previous year. Significantly, the rise also represents the maximum number the group has recorded in a single year since 1989.

Most executions take place in China, where such data remains a state secret. Barring information from Beijing, the Asia-Pacific region saw 367 people subjected to the death penalty — more than a ten-fold rise from 2014. Pakistan alone accounted for 326 of them (the highest recorded by AI).

West Asia and North Africa saw a 26 per cent rise in executions, even if there was no addition to the eight countries that resorted to the punishment in 2014. While Iran accounted for 82 per cent of executions in the region, for Saudi Arabia, the total rose by 76 per cent over 2014. But the 158 executions were the highest i since 1995. For the seventh year running, the U.S. remained the lone country in the Americas to have executed convicts. But the numbers were the lowest since 1991.

Four more countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2015, taking the tally of abolitionist states to 102. “The understandable anger at perpetrators of violence must not be used by governments to violate the rights of those convicted of violent crimes,” said Abhirr V.P., Campaigner, Amnesty International India, in an e-mail response.