Tuesday, December 16, 2025 - Saudi Arabia has broken its own record for executions carried out in a single year, according to a recent tally, after authorities said three people were put to death Monday. The kingdom has killed 340 people so far this year and has in recent years trailed only China and Iran among countries carrying out the death penalty.
The toll marks the second-straight year Saudi Arabia has
broken its own record since rights groups first began documenting the number of
executions in the 1990s. It executed 338 people in 2024
A statement by the interior ministry carried by the official
Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said three individuals were executed in the Mecca
region for murder convictions.
Since the start of 2025, Saudi Arabia has executed 232 people
in drug-related cases, constituting the majority of the 340 executions carried
out so far, according to the tally, which is based on ministry and SPA
announcements.
Analysts largely link the surge in executions to the
kingdom’s ongoing “war on drugs” launched in 2023, with many of those first
arrested only now being executed, following legal proceedings and convictions.
Saudi Arabia resumed executions for drug offences at the end of 2022, after
suspending the use of the death penalty in narcotics cases for around three
years.
The Arab world’s largest economy is also one of the biggest
markets for captagon, an illicit stimulant that was Syria’s largest export
under Bashar al-Assad — according to the United Nations. Assad was ousted last
year. Since launching its war on drugs, the country has increased the presence
of police checkpoints on highways and at border crossings, where millions of
pills have been confiscated and dozens of traffickers arrested. Foreigners are
largely bearing the brunt of the campaign to date.
The kingdom also faces sustained criticism over its use of
the death penalty, which rights groups have condemned as excessive and in
marked contrast to the country’s efforts to present a modern image to the
world.
“These are not violent criminals, and most are foreign
nationals. Executing them is against international law mandating that the death
penalty only be used for intentional homicide,” said Harriet McCulloch of the
Reprieve rights group.
Activists say the kingdom’s continued embrace of capital
punishment undermines the image of a more open, tolerant society that is
central to de-facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030
reform agenda. Saudi Arabia is spending big on tourist infrastructure and top
sports events such as the 2034 World Cup as it tries to diversify its
oil-reliant economy.
Authorities in the kingdom, however, argue the death penalty
is necessary to maintain public order and is only used after all avenues for
appeal have been exhausted.
Amnesty International began documenting executions in Saudi
Arabia in 1990. Figures dating from before then are largely unclear. Saudi
Arabia remained the third-highest executor of death sentences worldwide in
2022, 2023, and 2024—after China and Iran—according to Amnesty International.
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