Saudi Arabia executes 17 people in 3 days, approaching new record

Tuesday, August 5, 2025 - Saudi Arabia executed two individuals on Monday, August 4, for “terrorist crimes,” bringing the total number of executions in the kingdom to 17 over a span of three days, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The latest executions followed a wave over the weekend in which 15 people, mostly foreign nationals, were put to death for drug-related offences. Thirteen were convicted of smuggling hashish, while another was executed for smuggling cocaine. Monday’s executions were the first for terrorism-related offences since the weekend’s surge.

This marks the fastest rate of capital punishment in the kingdom since March 2022, when 81 people were executed in a single day for terrorism offences, a move that drew widespread international condemnation.

Saudi Arabia, known as one of the world’s leading users of the death penalty, has now carried out 239 executions in 2025 alone. This includes 161 for drug-related crimes and 136 involving foreign nationals, based on an AFP analysis of official announcements.

The country is on track to surpass the 338 executions recorded in 2024—the highest figure since public records began in the early 1990s.

Jeed Basyouni of Reprieve, a UK-based human rights organisation, expressed concern over the increase in executions, particularly for drug offences involving hashish. “This is particularly concerning given the global trend toward decriminalising the possession and use of hashish,” she told AFP.

Basyouni also highlighted that foreign nationals make up the majority of those executed for such offences.

Analysts attribute the spike in executions to the kingdom’s intensified “war on drugs,” launched in 2023. Many of those executed recently were arrested during the campaign’s early stages and have since undergone legal proceedings culminating in capital punishment.

Although Saudi Arabia had suspended executions for drug crimes for nearly three years, it resumed the practice at the end of 2022. The government maintains that all executions follow due process and are intended to maintain national security and deter criminal activity.

However, human rights activists argue that the continued application of the death penalty, particularly against low-level drug offenders, undermines efforts to present the kingdom as a more progressive and open society, a key pillar of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform initiative.