Saudi Arabia executes Afghan for smuggling drugs

The prisoner, Ghulam Rasool Faqeer, was apprehended on charges of smuggling heroin into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Saudi authorities on Sunday carried out the execution of an Afghan national convicted of trying to smuggle heroin into the Kingdom, again demonstrating Riyadh’s zero-tolerance policy against drugs.

The prisoner, Ghulam Rasool Faqeer, was apprehended on charges of smuggling heroin into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior. He was convicted upon trial in a competent court and given the death penalty.

The Supreme Court subsequently confirmed the death penalty, and the sentence was executed in Makkah.

The ministry guaranteed that Faqeer had used up all avenues of appeal before the execution was carried out.

Officially, the authorities maintained that the Kingdom possesses some of the strongest anti-drug legislation on the planet and that capital punishment is often the punishment in trafficking or smuggling instances of large quantities of narcotics.

The Kingdom will be firm against anyone who is found to be involved in drug trafficking.

Such crimes pose a serious danger to the security and health of society,” the statement went on. Saudi Arabia has consistently stated that its harsh punishments are designed to serve as a deterrent against foreign smuggling rings that target the Kingdom due to its population and position.

The country has, in recent years, stepped up efforts to curb the influx of narcotics, including amphetamines, hashish, and heroin, into its borders.

Human rights groups, however, have continuously cautioned against the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, particularly in drug offenses. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have asserted that such punishments violate international human rights standards and have called for reforms.

Source: minutemirror.com.pk, Staff, August 17, 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

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