Jul 7, 07:06 AM

Amnesty Reports Record Saudi Executions, 345 Deaths Logged in 2024

Executions in Saudi Arabia climbed to their highest level in more than three decades last year and show no sign of slowing, Amnesty International said in a report released Monday. The human-rights group counted 345 executions in 2024—almost one a day—and 180 more in the first six months of 2025, putting the kingdom on course to break its own record. Amnesty tallied 1,816 executions between January 2014 and June 2025. June alone saw 46 people put to death, 37 of them for drug-related offences. Reprieve, another advocacy organisation, estimates that roughly two-thirds of the executions carried out this year involved non-violent drug crimes. Foreign nationals have been disproportionately affected: about three-quarters of those executed for drug offences and more than half of all people executed so far in 2025 were citizens of countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria. Amnesty documented systemic failures in due-process protections, from lack of legal representation to inadequate interpretation services. The surge contrasts with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's 2022 remarks that capital punishment would be limited to homicide cases. A moratorium on drug-related executions announced in 2021 lasted less than three years before being lifted in November 2022, according to the report. Amnesty called on Riyadh to re-impose an immediate moratorium, commute existing death sentences and revise legislation in line with international law. Saudi authorities have not publicly commented on the findings.