Saudi Arabia: authorities have already executed 198 people in 2024

Even this grim death toll may be lower than the reality due to under-reporting in the country

The number of those put to death - including some for drugs offences - is the highest since 1990

‘Where else in the world is someone sentenced to death for this?’ - an Egyptian on death row after being convicted of possessing eight grams of hashish

The Saudi Arabian authorities have put to death at least 198 people so far in 2024, the highest number of executions recorded in the country since 1990, Amnesty International said today.

Earlier today, the official Saudi Press Agency confirmed that the 198th execution this year had been carried out, though the real number may be higher given the news agency has previously under-reported the true number of executions in the country.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 196 people - the highest annual number of executions that Amnesty had recorded in the country in the last 30 years. In March 2022, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salma said that the country had “got rid of” the death penalty except for cases where it is mandated under Sharia. Yet, in November 2022, the authorities carried the first executions for drug-related offences in nearly three years, reversing a moratorium on executions for such offences which was announced by the Saudi Human Rights Commission in 2021.

Earlier this year, Amnesty analysed the country’s draft penal code which codifies the death penalty as a punishment and continues to enable judges to use their discretion to impose death sentences for murder, rape, blasphemy and apostasy.

Despite repeated promises to limit the use of the death penalty, the Saudi authorities have ramped up executions while routinely failing to abide by international fair trial standards and safeguards for defendants. Executions for drug-related crimes have soared this year, with 53 carried out so far - with an average of one execution every two days in July alone - rising from just two drug-related executions in 2023.

The authorities have also weaponised the death penalty to silence political dissent, punishing citizens from the country’s Shi’a minority who’ve supported “anti-government” protests between 2011 and 2013. On 17 August, the Saudi Press Agency announced the execution of Abdulmajeed al-Nimr, a retired traffic police officer, for terrorism-related offences related to joining Al-Qaeda. However, his court documents tell another story about his charges, which are related to his alleged support for “anti-government” protests in the country’s Shi’a-majority Eastern Province.

According to a court document reviewed by Amnesty, he was initially sentenced on 25 October 2021 by the Specialised Criminal Court to nine years in prison on charges of “seeking to destabilise the social fabric and national unity by participating in demonstrations … supporting riots, chanting slogans against the state and its rulers”, as well as “dissenting against the decision to arrest and prosecute wanted individuals”, and for joining a WhatsApp group that included people wanted for security purposes. On appeal, his punishment was increased to a death sentence. The court did not make a single reference to Al-Nimr’s supposed involvement with Al-Qaeda.

After Al-Nimr’s arrest on 28 October 2017 he was denied access to a lawyer for around two years during his interrogations and pre-trial detention. He spent three months in detention without being informed of the reason for his arrest. According to the court document, Al-Nimr’s conviction was based solely on a “confession” he said was obtained under duress, including being detained in solitary confinement for a month-and-a-half. 

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said: 

“The death penalty is an abhorrent and inhuman punishment which Saudi Arabia has used against people for a wide range of offences, including political dissent and drug-related charges following grossly unfair trials. 

“The authorities must immediately establish a moratorium on executions, and order re-trials for those on death row in line with international standards without resorting to the death penalty.”

Executed for drugs offences 

So far in 2024, the Saudi authorities have executed 53 people solely for drug-related offences. Only two such offences were recorded in the country in 2023. Since July, 53 people have been executed for drug-related offences, 38 of whom were foreign nationals. This spike in executions raises serious fears for the fate of dozens of prisoners convicted of similar offences and currently on death row. Earlier today, the authorities executed two Egyptian men who were detained in Tabuk Prison for drug-related crimes.

Amnesty has previously documented the cases of four Egyptian men held on death row in Tabuk Prison for drug-related offences. The four are among a group of at least 50 people on death row for drug-related crimes in Tabuk Prisons, the majority of whom are Egyptian. 

This month, Omar (a pseudonym), one of the detained men, told Amnesty: 

“I’ve been on death row for seven years for the possession of eight grams of hashish. I was also convicted of the intent to receive drugs, which I didn’t confess to and have denied. Where else in the world is someone sentenced to death for this? I have asked all governmental entities who may know - from the Ministry of Interior to the Supreme Judicial Council, and no one could tell me the status of my case. My son grew up without me for seven years. This makes me feel like I’m already a dead man … A few days ago, I shared a final meal with one of my fellow inmates before he was taken to be executed the next morning. He didn’t know about his impending execution until that morning. All I want to know is the status of my case.”

The authorities sentenced these men to death in January 2019 on various drug-related charges and upheld the sentence in November 2019. Since then, the men have received no information about the status of their case. According to the court document analysed by Amnesty, the four men had no legal representation throughout their pre-trial detention, interrogations and preliminary trial resulting in their death sentence. Following their conviction, the court stated that they have the right to a legal representative to submit appeal proceedings. However, the court only appointed a lawyer for one of the men.