DUBAI: Saudi Arabia executed 170 people in 2023, including four on New Year’s Eve — an increase on the previous year, according to an AFP tally based on announcements by Saudi authorities.

A total of 147 convicts were executed in 2022 in the Gulf state, routinely criticised by human rights activists who condemn its prolific use of capital punishment.

A record of 187 executions took place in the kingdom in 2019.

The four people executed on Sunday had been convicted of murder, the official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing statements from the interior ministry.

They included two in the north-western city of Tabuk, one in the capital Riyadh and one in Jazan in the south-west.