Saudi Arabia’s execution of more than 2,000 people over the last decade in many cases violates Saudi and international law and belies the government’s claims of reform, 36 groups including Human Rights Watch said today. The following is their statement: As of early April 2026, the number of executions carried out by Saudi Arabia since King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s accession to the throne on January 23, 2015—and the subsequent appointment of his son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, on June 21, 2017—has surpassed 2,000, according to the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR), marking a stark escalation in the use of capital punishment under their rule.
Striving for a World without Capital Punishment