Over 100 foreigners executed in Saudi Arabia this year

On Saturday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported the execution of a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the kingdom.

According to the AFP tally – which the agency compiled from state media reports – that brought to 101 the number of foreigners executed so far in 2024, almost triple the figures for 2023 and 2022.

“This is the largest number of executions of foreigners in one year. Saudi Arabia has never executed 100 foreigners in a year,” said Taha al-Hajji, legal director for the Berlin-based European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR).

AFP added foreigners executed this year included 21 from Pakistan, 20 from Yemen, 14 from Syria, 10 from Nigeria, nine from Egypt, eight from Jordan and seven from Ethiopia.

There were also three each from Sudan, India and Afghanistan, and one each from Sri Lanka, Eritrea and the Philippines.

Saudi human rights defenders and lawyers have accused Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of overseeing a crackdown on freedom of expression since he came to power, including the introduction of a counterterrorism law that Human Rights Watch has criticised for its broad definition of terrorism.

Two new bodies used to suppress activists – the Presidency of State Security and the Public Prosecution Office – were established by royal decrees in the same year.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia ended a three-year moratorium on the execution of drug offenders, and executions for drug-related crimes have boosted this year’s numbers, with 92 such executions so far this year.

The kingdom remains one of the world’s most prolific executioners.

At least 1,115 executions have been carried out under bin Salman’s rule between 21 June 2017 and 9 October 2024.

Additionally, according to Reprieve, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly lied to the UN about its use of the death penalty.