Executions in Saudi Arabia in 2024 surpass 300 in record tally

Saudi media reported the executions of three people convicted of drug smuggling and murder, bringing the figure to 303 people executed so far this year.

The tally – which is based on state media reports – found a surge in executions in recent weeks, with 200 people executed in September alone.

The toll includes 103 people convicted on drug-related charges and 45 individuals sentenced on terror-related charges.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia ended a three-year moratorium on the execution of drug offenders, accelerating executions for drug-related offences.

In September, rights group Amnesty International warned that the number of executions by Saudi authorities already stood at 196 – the highest figure in a decade. The report found that a surge in executions for drug-related offences drove the uptick, with an average of one execution every two days alone – up from just two drug-related executions in 2023.

The curtailing of the moratorium also appears to have prompted a spike in executions of women.

Citing the official Saudi press agency, the Berlin-based European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) reported that 2024 saw a record number of executions of women, with seven put to death this year so far – three of them on drug-related charges.

The rights group noted that this was up from one execution in 2022, and that previously, women were only executed for murder, with the first drug-related execution of a woman carried out in 2019.

The group further reported that most of the women executed during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reign were foreign, most of them migrant workers from Africa and Asia. Of the four women executed this year, three were from Africa, according to ESOHR.

In November, another AFP tally found that the kingdom executed over 100 foreigners in 2024 – the highest total of foreigners executed in one year, almost triple the figures for 2023 and 2022.

Saudi human rights defenders and lawyers have accused MbS 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.

“These numbers reflect the escalating bloodshed since King Salman and his crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, came to power. They also confirm the falsity of all the claims of reform and change that bin Salman has raised for years,” Duaa Dhainy, senior researcher at ESOHR, told Middle East Eye.

“What is also worrying is the use of this punishment against political opponents, and for crimes that are not the most serious,” she added.

In 2023, Amnesty International ranked Saudi Arabia the third most prolific executioner after China and Iran.

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