Most executions for drug cases: Saudi Arabia executed 2,084 in 12.5 years, nearly 100 in six months this year

Photo: Collected

At least 96 people were executed in Saudi Arabia between 1 January and 22 June this year, that is, in the first six months alone, according to the human rights organisation Amnesty International. Of these, 61 were carried out solely on charges of drug-related offences. Executions in the country have risen at an alarming rate.

Amnesty’s figures show that Saudi authorities executed 2,084 people in the twelve and a half years from January 2014 to June 2026.

The organisation’s latest report was published on 22 June. It shows that of the 61 people executed in drug cases this year, 39 were foreigners and 22 Saudi nationals. The foreigners include seven from Ethiopia, seven from Pakistan, five from Sudan, four from Jordan and three from Syria, as well as expatriates from other countries.

After the report was published, Amnesty’s Middle East researcher Dana Ahmed said the Saudi government had executed nearly 100 people before the year was even half over. The punishment is being handed down routinely even in ordinary drug cases, offences that under international law and standards should never carry the death penalty. In her words, most of the foreigners facing execution are victims of unfair trials.

The report also notes that at least 63 Ethiopian nationals are at this moment at risk of execution in a single cell of the Khamis Mushait prison in south-western Saudi Arabia. The main charge against them is simply smuggling cannabis or hashish.

According to Amnesty’s records, Saudi Arabia carried out an all-time high of at least 356 executions in 2025 alone. That is nearly three times the 122 executions in 2024.

In previous years too, foreigners made up the largest share of those executed for drug offences; the share was 75 per cent in 2024, rising to 78 per cent in 2025.

Most recently, five Saudi nationals were executed in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province last Saturday (17 October). They had been convicted of terrorism and offences against the state. The country’s interior ministry confirmed in a statement that the executions were carried out after a royal decree was issued once the courts’ final verdicts were upheld. Before that, two Bangladeshis were executed in the Makkah region on 14 October.

Citing official figures, the news agency AFP reported that with these latest five, a total of 188 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia in the first 10 months of this year.

Background

The two Bangladeshis executed in Makkah had been accused of immoral acts in a mosque, according to news reports, Dhaka Times reported on 17 October.

The same report quoted State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam as saying that the government had not received official information on the matter and had written to Saudi Arabia for details; she also urged expatriates to abide by the laws of the countries where they live.

Background source: Dhaka Times, 17 October 2026