Saudi Arabia | New report denounces alarming escalation in executions

A new report published by Amnesty International today draws attention to a startling surge in executions in Saudi Arabia in recent years, particularly for drug-related offences, and highlights the significant impact of these on foreign nationals.

Between January 2014 and June 2025, Saudi Arabia executed 1,816 people, according to the official press agency. Nearly one in three were executed for drug-related offences, which are offences that may not be punished by death under international human rights law and standards. Out of the 597 people executed for drug-related offences during the ten-year period, foreign nationals made up nearly three-quarters (75%) of such executions.

In 2024 Saudi Arabia carried out a record 345 executions. So far this year between January and June 2025, Saudi Arabia executed a total of 180 people.

In June 2025 alone, Saudi Arabia has executed 46 people, including 37 for drug-related offences – an average of more than one drug-related execution per day. Thirty-four were foreign nationals from Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria.

“Saudi Arabia’s relentless and ruthless use of the death penalty after grossly unfair trials not only demonstrates a chilling disregard for human life; its application for drug-related offences is also an egregious violation of international law and standards,” said Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“We are witnessing a truly horrifying trend, with foreign nationals being put to death at a startling rate for crimes that should never carry the death penalty. This report exposes the dark and deadly reality behind the progressive image that the authorities attempt to project globally.”  

The 345 executions carried out in 2024 marked the highest number of executions Amnesty International has recorded in Saudi Arabia in over three decades. Approximately 35% of these, or 122 people, were executed for drug-related offences, the highest annual total since Amnesty began logging executions in Saudi Arabia in 1990. In 2024, Saudi Arabia was one of only four countries worldwide with reported executions for drug-related offences.

In a significant policy reversal, Saudi Arabia’s 33-month moratorium on drug-related executions, announced in January 2021, was abruptly lifted in November 2022. Saudi Arabia has executed over 262 people for drug-related offences since – which is close to half of the recorded total drug-related executions over the 10-year period analysed.

The report is based on a comprehensive quantitative analysis of reported executions spanning over a decade and an in-depth examination of cases of foreign nationals sentenced to death.

In stark contrast to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s earlier public claims that the Kingdom was limiting the death penalty for ta’zir (discretionary) offences, the analysis reveals a pattern of judges, exercising their discretion to increase the severity of punishments and impose death sentences, even in cases not involving intentional killing, rather than using it to limit use of the death penalty. Amnesty International’s analysis shows that 122 ta’zir executions for drug-related offences were carried out in 2024 alone and 118 such executions in the first six months of 2025.

Foreign nationals bear the brunt of drug-related executions

The report highlights how foreign nationals are being put to death at a startling rate for drug-related offences. Nationalities particularly affected over the last decade include Pakistani (155 executed), Syrian (66), Jordanian (50), Yemeni (39), Egyptian (33), Nigerian (32), Somali (22) and Ethiopian (13), alongside others. Dozens more foreign nationals remain at imminent risk of execution.

Foreign nationals face additional challenges to receiving a fair trial in Saudi Arabia, a country that is not their own and which has an inherently opaque criminal justice system.

A relative told Amnesty International: “We don’t know if they have their court document … We can’t obtain any legal documents because we don’t have anyone inside the country supporting us with the case, like a legal representative. There is also a language barrier. My brother was arrested within a week from leaving Ethiopia while crossing the Yemen border. He knew nothing about what he would face at the Saudi border.”

Amnesty International, working with partner organizations the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights and Justice Project Pakistan, documented the cases of 25 foreign nationals from Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Pakistan and Somalia convicted of drug-related offences who are currently on death row or have been executed in Saudi Arabia.

Based on in-depth interviews with families of 13 of these 25 people, community members and a consulate official, as well as an examination of court documents, Amnesty International concluded that the limited education and disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds of these foreign nationals on death row increased their risk of exploitation in their migration and made it more difficult for them to access legal representation in Saudi Arabia.

The report details systemic failures to guarantee their right to a fair trial, including, among other things, lack of access to a legal representative, inadequate consular support and no access to effective interpretation.

At least four of the documented cases involved people reporting being subjected to torture or other ill-treatment during pre-trial detention to extract “confessions”. Hussein Abou al-Kheir, for instance, a 57-year-old father of eight, retracted his torture-tainted “confession” multiple times during his trial proceedings, stating he was beaten to the point he couldn’t hold a pen, yet the judge used his self-incriminating statement as evidence to convict him. Such practices violate Saudi Arabia’s obligations under the Convention against Torture as well as other international safeguards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty.

The psychological toll on both the people on death row and their families was described to Amnesty International as immense. Many did not know the status of their appeals or when their execution might occur. In some cases they were only informed by prison officials the day before. Families learned of the executions through other detainees or media reports. In all cases documented by Amnesty International, Saudi authorities have withheld the bodies of those executed, denying families the right to mourn and give burial in line with their religious practices – a practice condemned by UN bodies as a form of ill-treatment.

“We were devastated, especially that there is no body to mourn. No funeral ceremony… Back in Amman my family sat in silence in their living room when they heard the news and started screaming like mad people. It’s an image that broke my heart,” said Zainab Abou al-Kheir, sister of Hussein, who was executed in Saudi Arabia in March 2023.

Use of death penalty against the Shia minority

Beyond drug offences, Amnesty International’s analysis indicates an alarming use of the death penalty for “terrorism”-related offences against Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority. While the Shia community comprises an estimated 10-12% of the total population, they accounted for around 42% (120 of 286) of all “terrorism”-related executions between January 2014 and June 2025. This reflects political repression against a group long facing discrimination, with peaceful dissent often prosecuted as “terrorism.”

Despite recent legal reforms aimed at limiting the use of death penalty for people who were children, i.e. under 18, at the time of their alleged offence, seven young men, some as young as 12 at the time of their alleged offences, remain at risk of execution. Four of them were recently re-tried and once again sentenced to death. The imposition of the death penalty for those younger than 18 years of age at the time of the criminal conduct is absolutely prohibited under international human rights law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a state party.

“The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, it should not be used under any circumstances. In addition to immediately establishing a moratorium on executions, pending full abolition of the death penalty, Saudi Arabia’s authorities must amend national laws to remove the death penalty and commute all death sentences,” said Kristine Beckerle.

“Saudi Arabia’s allies in the international community must exert urgent pressure on the authorities to halt their execution spree and uphold international human rights obligations.”

Source: Amnesty International, Staff, July 7, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde