Malaysia has sentenced 829 prisoners to death between 2010 and 2016, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.
Of these as many as 95 were pardoned or given reprieves, while 12 were executed, the minister said, according to The Star.
"Statistics from the Prisons Department show that between 2010 and February 22, 2016, the courts sentenced 829 prisoners to death for various crimes, including murder, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking and kidnapping," Zahid, who is also the home minister, said.
Calls for abolishing capital punishment have been rife in the Muslim majority country since 2010. The government has said it is willing to review the mandatory death penalty in certain crimes.
The Malaysian lawyers' forum has also called for a moratorium on executions pending this review, the report said.
Drug related offences carry the maximum punishment in the country. According to the Amnesty International, anyone one found carrying 200g or more of cannabis is automatically presumed guilty of trafficking and awarded death penalty.
"Malaysia keeps its execution numbers secret, but credible sources suggest that about half of all death sentences carried out in recent years have been for drug convictions," the rights organisation has said.
According to Death Penalty Worldwide, the number of individuals currently under sentence of death is at least 1,043. The organisation says at least two people were executed in 2014, but since then the death penalty hasn't been carried out in the country.
