Apart from China and despite a worldwide drop in death sentences, countries in the Middle East remained among the world's leading executioners last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

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The number of executions worldwide plummeted to its lowest level in over a decade, with at least 483 people executed in 2020, 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.

Although counts in the nations fell in line with global trends, largely due to Saudi legal reforms, the countries carried out 88% of the world's total known executions in 2020, according to the London-based rights group that campaigns for the 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."

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.

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, which Morayef called "one of the big black boxes."

Egypt carried out 107 executions last year, a significant increase from the 32 recorded in 2019. Some two dozen of the executed men had been convicted on political violence charges, particularly following the military overthrow in 2013 of Egypt's first democratically elected president, the late Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

Last fall, executions soared in Egypt after unrest on death row at Cairo's notorious Tora prison, where authorities claimed that several inmates tried to escape. 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. In response to criticism, the government has insisted that security and stability are its top priorities.

Iran remained the top executioner in the Middle East, meting out at least 246 deaths last year, more than half of the region's total.

The Amnesty report particularly lamented Iran's execution of juveniles, political opponents and journalists. Last December, Iran hanged dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam, who launched a popular news channel that helped spark nationwide economic protests. In another case, Navid Afkari, a wrestler imprisoned for allegedly stabbing a man amid protests against Iran's theocracy in 2018, was hastily hanged without prior notice to his family or lawyer last fall, Amnesty said.

Saudi Arabia, long notorious for its public beheadings, decreased its executions as international scrutiny of the kingdom's human rights record increased, Amnesty noted. The change came as Saudi Arabia promoted its global stature by hosting the Group of 20 summit last year and braced for cooler relations with US President Joe Biden.

Mideast countries that had not put anyone to death in years also did so in 2020. The sultanate of Oman reversed course by putting four people to death and Qatar resumed executions for the first time in over two decades with the hanging of a Nepali migrant worker convicted of murder.

By law or in practice, the death penalty is now abolished in 144 countries, though Amnesty expects no such change in the Middle East. Israel does not have the death penalty.

"It's a reflection of the crisis of human rights," Morayef said. "Until Middle East leaders start taking the justice system seriously instead of just empowering their security services, I fear we're going to continue to see these kinds of numbers."

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Javaid Rehman said in a report to the UN General Assembly circulated on Friday that while the number of executions was the lowest since 2007, "the number of executions remains one of the highest in the world."

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The significant decline, he said, is attributed to enforcement of a 2017 amendment to Iran's anti-narcotics law that saw the number of executions for drug-related offenses drop from 231 in 2017 to at least 24 in 2018.

Rehman expressed concern that Iran had more than 80 offenses punishable by the death penalty, including adultery, homosexuality, drug possession, "waging war against God, corruption on Earth, blasphemy and insult of the Prophet" Muhammad.

He said many of the offenses are not considered serious crimes under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Among the seven child offenders reported to have been executed in 2018 were two 17-year-olds in April for alleged rape and robbery, Rehman said. "The two were reportedly forced to confess under torture."

Rehman reiterated UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's statement that the execution of child offenders "is absolutely prohibited and must end immediately."

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The executions were likely to stoke further regional and sectarian tensions between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Saudi dissident Ali Al-Ahmed, who runs the Gulf Institute in Washington, identified 34 of those executed as Shiites based on the names announced by the Interior Ministry.

"This is the largest mass execution of Shiites in the kingdom's history," he said.

Amnesty International also confirmed the majority of those executed were Shiite men. The rights group said they were convicted "after sham trials" that relied on confessions extracted through torture.

It marked the largest number of executions in a single day in Saudi Arabia since Jan. 2, 2016, when the kingdom executed 47 people for terrorism-related crimes in what was the largest mass execution carried out by Saudi authorities since 1980.

Among those executed three years ago were four Shiites, including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose death sparked protests from Pakistan to Iran and the ransacking of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi-Iran ties have not recovered and the embassy remains shuttered.

King Salman ratified by royal decree Tuesday's mass execution and that of 2016. The king, who has empowered his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has asserted a bolder and more decisive leadership style than previous monarchs since ascending to the throne in 2015.

The kingdom and its Sunni-led Arab allies have also been emboldened by U.S. President Donald Trump's unwavering dedication to pressuring Iran's Shiite clerical leadership, which includes his decision to pull out of a nuclear agreement with Iran and re-impose punishing sanctions to cripple its economy.

Al-Ahmed described Tuesday's executions as a politically motivated message to Iran.

"This is political," he said. "They didn't have to execute these people, but it's important for them to ride the American anti-Iranian wave."

The Interior Ministry's statement said those executed had adopted extremist ideologies and formed terrorist cells with the aim of spreading chaos and provoking sectarian strife. It said the individuals had been found guilty according to the law and ordered executed by the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh, which specializes in terrorism trials, and the country's high court.

The individuals were found guilty of attacking security installations with explosives, killing a number of security officers and cooperating with enemy organizations against the interests of the country, the Interior Ministry said.

The statement was carried across state-run media, including the Saudi news channel al-Ekhbariya. The statement read on the state-run news channel opened with a verse from the Quran that condemns attacks that aim to create strife and disharmony and warns of great punishment for those who carry out such attacks.

Al-Ahmed said among those executed was Shiite religious leader Sheikh Mohammed al-Attiyah, whose charges included seeking to form a sectarian group in the western city of Jiddah. Al-Ahmed said the sheikh publicly spoke of the need to work closely with Saudi Arabia's Sunni majority and would lead small prayer groups among Shiites.

In a speech he gave in 2011 under then King Abdullah, the sheikh was quoted as saying that frank and open dialogue between Sunnis and Shiites could help strengthen Saudi unity. He urged patience and expressed hope in a national dialogue that had taken place among Shiite dissidents and Sunni leaders.

"As long as we live in the same country, we have no choice but to accept one another and live with one another, no matter the degree of difference between us," he said.

Amnesty International said 11 of the men were convicted of spying for Iran and sentenced to death after a "grossly unfair trial." At least 14 others executed were convicted of violent offences related to their participation in anti-government demonstrations in Shiite-populated areas of Saudi Arabia between 2011 and 2012.

Among those put to death was a young man convicted of a crime that took place when he was 16 years-old, said Amnesty.

Saudi Arabia's supreme council of clerics, who are all ultraconservative Sunnis, said the executions were carried out in accordance with Islamic law.

The Interior Ministry said the body of one of the executed men – Khaled bin Abdel Karim al-Tuwaijri – was publicly pinned to a pole. The statement did not say in which city of Saudi Arabia the public display took place.

He appears to have been convicted as a Sunni militant, though the government did not give a detailed explanation of the charges against each individual executed.

The government defends such executions as a powerful tool for deterrence.

Saudi analysts and pro-government writers brought in to discuss the executions on al-Ekhbariya said they are a powerful sign that the country's leadership will not hesitate to use the full might of the judicial system to punish Saudis who seek to disrupt the kingdom's security.

Those executed hailed from Riyadh, Mecca, Medina and Asir, as well as Shiite Muslim populated areas of the Eastern Province and Qassim. The executions also took place in those various regions.

It brings the number of people executed since the start of the year to around 100, according to official announcements. Last year, the kingdom executed 149 people, most of them drug smugglers convicted of non-violent crimes, according to Amnesty's most recent figures.

Executions are traditionally carried out after midday prayers. Public displays of the bodies of executed men last for around three hours until late afternoon prayers, with the severed head and body hoisted to the top of a pole overlooking a main square.

This latest mass execution comes days after four Islamic State gunmen were killed by Saudi security forces while trying to attack a security building north of the capital, Riyadh.

It also comes on the heels of Sri Lanka's Easter Day attacks that killed over 300 people, including two Saudi nationals. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Local affiliates of the Islamic State group and Saudis inspired by its ideology launched several attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2014 and 2016, killing dozens of people, including security officers and Shiite worshippers. The last major attempted attack is believed to have been two years ago.

The group, like al-Qaida in the past, has sought to undermine the Al Saud royal family's legitimacy, which is rooted in part in its claim to implement Islamic Shariah law and to be the protectors of Islam's most sacred sites in Mecca and Medina that are at the center of hajj.

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