Saudi Arabia
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- absolute monarchy
- CONSTITUTION
- Sharia applies; a fundamental law establishing the rights and responsibilities of the government was introduced in 1992
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on Sharia law but some secular norms have been introduced
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- Advisory Council, appointed by the king for 4 years
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Council of Justice
RELIGIONS
100% Muslims
From the country
- FEBRUARY 7, 2022Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA RELEASES SHIA MINOR AFTER COMMUTING HIS DEATH SENTENCE
Saudi Arabia on 2 February 2022 freed Dawoud Al-Marhoon who had previously been sentenced to death for protesting while he was a minor.
DECEMBER 27, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: IS-LINKED MAN EXECUTED FOR SUICIDE ATTACK PLOT
Saudi Arabia on 27 December 2021 executed a Yemeni man accused of plotting a suicide attack in the kingdom and of links to the Islamic State jihadist group, the interior ministry said.
- DECEMBER 5, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: PAKISTANI, EGYPTIAN EXECUTED FOR MURDER
Saudi authorities on 2 December 2021 executed two expatriates – a Pakistani and an Egyptian—convicted of fatally stabbing two compatriots in two different cases, the Interior Ministry said.
- NOVEMBER 16, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA RELEASES SECOND MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CHILDHOOD 'CRIMES'
Saudi authorities have released Adbullah al-Zaher, a young man who had been sentenced to death for "crimes" he allegedly committed as a child, human rights activists announced on 14 November 2021.
- NOVEMBER 15, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: SAUDI MAN EXECUTED FOR BURNING WIFE TO DEATH
Saudi authorities on 11 November 2021 executed a citizen after he was convicted of brutally beating and burning his wife to death.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI COURT OVERTURNS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED AS MINOR; RETRIAL TO FOLLOW
A Saudi court overturned a conviction on a death penalty charge for a young man following what rights groups called a "grossly unfair trial" for crimes committed when he was a minor, his family said on 10 November 2021.
NOVEMBER 3, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: MAN EXECUTED FOR ATTEMPT TO KILL SECURITY FORCES
Saudi Arabia on 1st November 2021 executed a man convicted of trying to shoot dead security forces and weapons charges, with alleged links to figures accused of terrorist activities, state media reported.
OCTOBER 28, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: ALI AL-NIMR RELEASED FROM PRISON AFTER NEARLY A DECADE
A young Saudi man was released from prison on 27 October 2021 after spending nearly a decade behind bars in a case that drew international scrutiny because until recently he’d been facing a possible death sentence for protest-related crimes committed as a
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: ISIS MEMBER EXECUTED IN JAZAN
The Saudi Interior Ministry announced on 29 July 2021 that it had carried out the death penalty against a member of the ISIS terror group in Jazan city.
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: EGYPTIAN EXECUTED FOR KILLING WOMAN, BURNING HER BODY
An Egyptian man was executed on 15 September 2021 in Saudi Arabia for killing a woman and burning her body in Medina.
SEPTEMBER 8, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SAUDI MAN EXECUTED OVER TERRORISM CHARGES
A Saudi man was executed in Dammam on 6 September 2021 on charges of terrorism and weapons smuggling, the interior ministry said.
- JULY 6, 2021Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
US INSTITUTE REPORTS FORMER SAUDI COMMANDER IN YEMEN SENTENCED TO DEATH
Saudi Arabia's former commander in charge of the coalition war in Yemen has been sentenced to death following a military trial, according to a 27 June 2021 report by the Washington DC-based Institute for Gulf Affairs.