Saudi Arabia
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 9
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 41
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Executions are carried out in public with a sword
- News items in the archive
- 1,878
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Saudi Arabia is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 9 executions in the country, against 41 the year before. The archive holds 1,878 news items on Saudi Arabia, from 1999 to today.
In Saudi Arabia the death penalty applies to murder, drug offences, terrorism and certain offences under sharia law. The usual method is beheading, in some cases carried out in public. Executions are often announced in groups by the official press agency and a significant share of them involve foreign nationals.
The system of diya, the compensation a victim's family may accept in place of an execution, leaves some sentences reversible until the last moment. The archive gathers official announcements, individual cases and the campaigns to stop them.
Latest news
JANUARY 31, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYA Saudi executed for murder
31 January 2018: Hadi bin Hamad bin Mohammed Al Qahtani, a Saudi citizen, was beheaded for murder
- JANUARY 29, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi executed for murder
28 January 2018: a Saudi citizen, was beheaded for murder in Taef.
- JANUARY 27, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Nigerian executed for drug
27 January 2018: two Nigerians have been executed in Saudi Arabia over allegation of drug-related offences. The two were Ibrahim Ciroma and Maimidu Issah, who hail from Northern Nigeria.
JANUARY 27, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA EXECUTE TWO NIGERIANS
Two Nigerians have been executed in Saudi Arabia over allegation of drug-related offences.
- JANUARY 22, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
An Egyptian executed for murder
23 January 2018: Tarek Saed al-Meslmi, an Egyptian citizen, was beheaded for murder in Rivadeh.
- JANUARY 22, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Three Saudi executed for drug
22 January 2018: Mohammed bin Attallah Salem al-Hawitti, Hussain bin Ahmed bin Hamza al-Hawaishel and Zakaria bin Said bin Said al-Freij, three Saudi citizens, were beheaded for smuggling a large quantity of banned amphetamine pills in Demmam.
- JANUARY 18, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi executed for murder
18 January 2018: Shaliwie bin Mashal bin Khaled al-Shibani al-Otaib, a Saudi citizen, was beheaded for murder in Rivadeh.
- JANUARY 10, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Saudi executed for drug
10 January 2018: Khalid bin Ali bin Farraj Al-Omrani and Khaled Abdullah Mohammed Al-Zoubi, two Saudi citizens, were beheaded for smuggling a large quantity of banned amphetamine pills.
- JANUARY 7, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi executed for murder
7 January 2018: Abed allah bin Saeed al-Shibani, a Saudi citizen, was beheaded for murder.
- JANUARY 4, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Saudi executed for murder
4 January 2018: two Saudi citizens, Hazam bin Mohammed bin Mubarak al-Qahtani and Saad bin Salem bin Saad al-Azizi al-Mutairi, were beheaded for murder.
- JANUARY 3, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi executed for drug
3 January 2018: Ead bin Dweehe al-Atwi, a Saudi citizen, was beheaded for smuggling a large quantity of banned amphetamine pills, in Tabook
- JANUARY 1, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law
- JANUARY 1, 2018Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
First execution of the year
1 January 2018: Hashem bin Adnan al-Khadrawe, a Saudi citizen, was beheaded for murder in the Eastern Province of the country.
- NOVEMBER 28, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: 7 EXECUTED FOR MURDER, DRUGS OFFENCES
Saudi Arabia executed six Yemeni men convicted of murder and robbery and a Saudi man for smuggling drugs, the interior ministry said.
NOVEMBER 23, 2017United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTYANTI-TERROR STATES ADD 2 ENTITIES, 11 INDIVIDUALS TO TERRORIST BLACKLIST
The Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ); Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain, added two entities and 11 individuals to its blacklist.
NOVEMBER 6, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: NEW ANTI-TERROR LAWS INCLUDE DEATH PENALTY
The new laws state that individuals defaming and publicly insulting the King and the Crown Prince will be sentenced to 5 to 10 years of imprisonment.
- OCTOBER 14, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO INDONESIANS GRANTED PARDON
The Indonesian government has managed to successfully secure the release of two Indonesians on death row in Saudi Arabia and repatriated them on October 14.
OCTOBER 1, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: PAKISTANI ‘DRUG TRAFFICKER’ AMONG SIX BEHEADED
The Saudi Arabia government executed six people, including a Pakistani citizen, convicted of drug trafficking and homicide, the highest number of executions in a single day this year.
JULY 27, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TARGETING SECURITY MEN, CIVILIANS IN QATIF
The Supreme Judicial Council issued an initial death sentence in the case of a Saudi who has targeted security men and civilians in Qatif, east of the kingdom, through shooting them while performing their duties.
JULY 11, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA EXECUTES PRISONER CONVICTED OF PROTEST
The Saudi authorities have executed four men who were convicted in a secret ‘terrorism’ court – including at
JULY 10, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SIX EXECUTED, INCLUDING A PAKISTANI
Six people convicted of drug trafficking and homicide were executed in Saudi Arabia, the government said, the highest number of executions in a single day this year.
- MAY 28, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD FOR DISABLED MAN ‘TORTURED FOR CONFESSION’
Saudi Arabia has upheld a death sentence for a disabled man, arrested in 2012 on suspicion of taking part in protests and then tortured until he signed a “false confession,” according to a rights group.
- MAY 27, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: DEATH SENTENCE OF 14 ACTIVISTS CONFIRMED
- APRIL 25, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Ahmad Al Shamri’s appeal denied, sentenced to death for atheism
25 April 2017: Ahmad Al Shamri, a young man in his early 20’s from the city of Hafr Al Batin has been sentenced to death after his appeal was denied by Saudi Appeals and Supreme Courts.
- APRIL 9, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: THREE PEOPLE EXECUTED FOR HEROIN SMUGGLING
Saudi Arabia executed three Pakistani nationals convicted of smuggling heroin, bringing the number of executions in the kingdom to 26 this year.
- MARCH 23, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA EXECUTES TWO DRUG DEALERS INCLUDING PAKISTANI NATIONAL
Saudi Arabia executed two convicted drug traffickers bringing the number of prisoners killed in the kingdom to 20 so far this year.
- MARCH 10, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MAN WHO ABDUCTED AND RAPED MINOR GIRLS EXECUTED
A Saudi man who kidnapped and raped minor girls was executed in the city of Dammam, in the Eastern Province.
- JANUARY 17, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA CARRIES OUT FIRST EXECUTION OF 2017
Saudi Arabia carried out its first death sentence of the year, following more than 150 executions in 2016.
- JANUARY 1, 2017Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law
DECEMBER 28, 2016Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: GENEROSITY OF A SAUDI SAVES AN INDIAN FROM DEATH SENTENCE
Limbadri, an Indian worker, never had it in his wildest dreams that he would escape death sentence