Saudi Arabia has executed over 100 foreigners this year, according to an AFP tally, marking a significant rise described by a rights group as unprecedented.
The most recent execution, reported by the Saudi Press Agency, involved a Yemeni national convicted of drug smuggling in Najran. This brings the total number of foreign executions in 2024 to 101, a sharp increase compared to the 34 foreign nationals executed annually in 2022 and 2023.
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The European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) highlighted that this year’s figures set a grim record, with the group’s legal director, Taha al-Hajji, noting that Saudi Arabia had never executed this many foreigners in a single year.
The kingdom continues to face global criticism for its extensive use of the death penalty. Amnesty International ranked Saudi Arabia as the world’s third-highest executor in 2023, following China and Iran. This year, executions have surged, with 274 carried out by mid-November, exceeding previous highs of 196 in 2022 and 192 in 1995.
Among those executed in 2024, 21 were Pakistanis, along with nationals from Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, and other countries. Many of these executions, totaling 92, were for drug-related offenses, 69 of which involved foreigners, following the kingdom’s 2022 decision to resume capital punishment for drug crimes.
Activists argue that foreign defendants face systemic disadvantages, including limited access to court documents and unfair trial practices. Hajji emphasized that foreigners are often exploited by major drug traffickers and subjected to multiple legal violations from arrest to execution.
Saudi Arabia is known for using beheading as its method of execution, though official reports typically avoid specifying this.
