Despite a 26 percent drop in world executions in 2020, the number of death penalties carried out by Iran stayed roughly the same, constituting half of all executions in the world, according to a report issued by Amnesty International on April 20.

Excluding China, countries in the Middle East remained among the world's leading executioners last year, despite legal reforms in Saudi Arabia, mainly because of the high number of executions in Iran.

Iran carried out 246 death penalties out of a reported 483 worldwide.

Amnesty's annual country-to-country figures exclude China, where figures, believed to be in the thousands, are classified as a state secret.

The number of executions worldwide plummeted to its lowest level in over a decade compared to 657 the previous year, as the coronavirus pandemic slowed criminal trials and disrupted scheduled executions.

Four states in the region — Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia — topped the global list and pressed on with shootings, beheadings and hangings, ignoring pleas by rights groups to halt executions during the pandemic, the report said.

Middle Easter countries led by Iran carried out 88% of the world's total known executions in 2020, according to the London-based rights group that campaigns for abolition of the death penalty.

The numbers show the region is "truly out of sync with the rest of the world," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"The Middle East stands out as a region that clings to the use of the death penalty after deeply unfair trials," she added.

Egypt executed more than three times as many condemned prisoners in 2020 as it did the year before, overtaking Saudi Arabia as the world's third-most prodigious executioner, the report said.  

Egypt held 107 executions last year, a significant increase from the 32 recorded in 2019.

Rights groups say military trials for civilians and the use of torture to extract confessions have increased as President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi entrenches his authoritarian rule.

Although Iraq more than halved the number of people it put to death last year compared to 2019, primarily because of virus-induced court closures, the government faces international criticism for carrying out mass executions.

Iraqi courts have grappled with thousands of detainees suspected of being Islamic State group fighters or supporters following the militant group's defeat on the battlefield in 2017. Last November, 21 prisoners held on terrorism-related charges were hanged in a single day.

The region's overall 25% decline in executions was driven by Saudi Arabia, long one of the world's most prolific executioners. In a dramatic shift, the Saudi government scaled back its executions last year by 85%.

The kingdom attributed the drop to legal reforms promoted by the country's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. New directives halted executions for drug offenses and abolished the death penalty for minors.

Amnesty's annual country-to-country figures exclude China, where figures, believed to be in the thousands, are classified as a state secret.

The report also omits executions from some countries marred by conflict like Syria.

Reporting by AP