Of the 638 confirmed executions in the region, three countries- Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia- accounted for 95% of them.
Saudi Arabia, where executions were up 76percentt from last year, had at least 158 confirmed executions, mostly by beheading. .
Iran led with at least 977 confirmed executions, mostly by hanging (though Amnesty International believes there were more) -- 58 of which were held in public. .
The official agreed to confirm the execution, first reported by the South Korean news media, only on the condition of anonymity because the information involved government intelligence.
It could take weeks or months for the court to hear arguments, review evidence and consider the appeals before deciding whether to confirm the execution orders.
He would not confirm their execution next week, saying he wanted to be prepared for the smallest problem before the Bali Nine pair and up to eight others go before the firing squad for drugs offences.
Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman for the South's Unification Ministry, said at a news briefing that the South Korean government had used various means to confirm the execution of Kim Yong-jin, the deputy premier, and the purge of Kim Yong-chol, the head of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers Partyy, which handles relations with, as well as spying operations against, South Korea.
He said his job had been to take photographs of corpses, both to allow a death certificate to be produced and to confirm that execution orders had been carried out.
"Allegations this serious cannot be ignored and further investigation is clearly necessary". The photographer, "Caesar", said his job had been to take photographs of corpses, both to allow a death certificate to be produced and to confirm that execution orders had been carried out.
"Figures confirm that executions have increased in Iran," Ms. Ebadi said in an interview.
The editor of the leading opposition newspaper, Foroyaa — himself a regular target of government persecution — said he could not yet confirm the executions late on Friday.
