Saudi Arabia executed a record number of foreigners in 2024 with the tally reaching 101 by mid-November. This figure is nearly triple the number of foreign executions in 2023 and 2022, when 34 foreigners were executed each year.
The increase has been described as unprecedented by rights groups, marking the largest number of foreign nationals executed in a single year in the kingdom's history.
The executions included individuals from various countries: 21 from Pakistan, 20 from Yemen, 14 from Syria, 10 from Nigeria, nine from Egypt, eight from Jordan, and seven from Ethiopia. Additionally, there were three each from Sudan, India, and Afghanistan, and one each from Sri Lanka, Eritrea, and the Philippines.
A major factor contributing to this surge was the resumption of executions for drug-related offenses, following the end of a three-year moratorium in 2022. By November 2024, 92 executions had been carried out for drug-related crimes alone. The most recent execution involved a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the kingdom, as reported by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Taha al-Hajji, legal director for the Berlin-based European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR), highlighted the gravity of the situation, stating, "This is the largest number of executions of foreigners in one year. Saudi Arabia has never executed 100 foreigners in a year."
Under the rule of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, at least 1,115 executions have been conducted between June 21, 2017, and October 9, 2024.
Human rights defenders have accused the crown prince of intensifying a crackdown on freedom of expression, partly through the introduction of a counterterrorism law criticized for its broad definition of terrorism.
Comments