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
- FEBRUARY 12, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: PAKISTANI DRUG SMUGGLER BEHEADED
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani drug smuggler, bringing to 29 the number of executions in the first six
- FEBRUARY 11, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Yemeni drug trafficker in the southwestern city of Jizan. Nayef
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Yemeni drug trafficker in the southwestern city of Jizan. Nayef
FEBRUARY 11, 2015PhilippinesDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: BLOOD MONEY PAID FOR FILIPINO ON DEATH ROW
A member of the Saudi royal family ordered the government to pay ‘diya’ (blood money) on behalf of a Filipino who is serving jail for killing a compatriot after he converted to Islam and persuaded 14 other Pinoys to embrace the religion, according to a me
FEBRUARY 10, 2015SyriaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SYRIAN EXECUTED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
- FEBRUARY 5, 2015JordanDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: EIGHT MEN BEHEADED IN THREE DIFFERENT CITIES
- FEBRUARY 5, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: PAKISTANI BEHEADED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Abdelghani Mohammed Akbar, from Pakistan, was beheaded in the Riyadh region after being convicted of
- FEBRUARY 4, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO CONVICTED RAPISTS AND A MURDERER BEHEADED
FEBRUARY 1, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: MURDERER BEHEADED, 5TH EXECUTION UNDER NEW KING
Saudi Arabia beheaded a convicted murderer, bringing to five the number of people executed since new
JANUARY 27, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: THREE BEHEADINGS ON SAME DAY
Saudi Arabia carried out the second, third and fourth beheadings under the reign of King Salman just days
JANUARY 26, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: CHILD RAPIST'S BEHEADING IS FIRST EXECUTION UNDER NEW KING
Saudi Arabia beheaded a serial child rapist, in the first execution since King Salman's rise to the throne in
JANUARY 23, 2015Sri LankaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: 3 SRI LANKANS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Three Sri Lankans have been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for breaking into a house while murdering
JANUARY 20, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: CITIZEN BEHEADED FOR MURDER
Saudi Arabia beheaded one of its citizens for murder in its 12th execution this year, warning it would mete out the same fate to perpetrators of similar crimes.
JANUARY 19, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: PAKISTANI HEROIN SMUGGLER BEHEADED IN MECCA
A convicted Pakistani heroin smuggler, Yassir Arafat Munir Ahmed, was executed in the Muslim holy city
JANUARY 19, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: THREE MORE BEHEADINGS
Three inmates have been beheaded in Saudi Arabia in the last days.
- JANUARY 16, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded one of its citizens for shooting dead a compatriot with a machine gun, bringing to 10
Saudi Arabia beheaded one of its citizens for shooting dead a compatriot with a machine gun, bringing to 10
- JANUARY 14, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a convicted Pakistani drug trafficker and one of its own citizens who killed a
Saudi Arabia beheaded a convicted Pakistani drug trafficker and one of its own citizens who killed a
JANUARY 12, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: WOMAN EXECUTED FOR KILLING STEPDAUGHTER, 7
A Burmese woman was executed in Makkah, in western Saudi Arabia, after she was found guilty of
- JANUARY 11, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: INDONESIA PAYS $1.87 MILLIONS TO SAVE MAID FROM DEATH ROW
the Indonesian government formally appealed to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah to pardon a maid on death
- JANUARY 10, 2015EthiopiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: ETHIOPIAN KILLER MAID GETS DEATH SENTENCE
A penal court in Taif has sentenced an Ethiopian maid to death for killing her woman sponsor with an axe.
- JANUARY 8, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO MEN EXECUTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING AND MURDER
A Pakistani man convicted of drug trafficking and a Saudi national convicted of murder were beheaded in Riyadh, the interior ministry said.
- JANUARY 8, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MAN PARDONS SON’S KILLER
A Saudi father saved the life of his son’s killer by forgiving him in court and refusing a large sum of money as
- JANUARY 7, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Suwaileh al-Sahimi, a Saudi convicted of murder, was executed in the holy city of Medina, the interior
Suwaileh al-Sahimi, a Saudi convicted of murder, was executed in the holy city of Medina, the interior
- JANUARY 6, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI BEHEADS SYRIAN, 3RD EXECUTION IN 2015
Saudi authorities beheaded a Syrian convicted of drugs trafficking, the interior ministry said, in the third execution this year in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
- JANUARY 1, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law
- JANUARY 1, 2015Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: 2 INMATES BEHEADED IN FIRST EXECUTIONS OF 2015
- DECEMBER 29, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: 86TH EXECUTION OF 2014 CARRIED OUT
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man in the southern Najran region for stabbing a relative to death, the interior ministry said.
- DECEMBER 25, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
a Pakistani man, Ismail Khan Sayed, was beheaded in Eastern Province after his conviction for smuggling "a
a Pakistani man, Ismail Khan Sayed, was beheaded in Eastern Province after his conviction for smuggling "a
- DECEMBER 22, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
a Saudi man, Suleiman bin Abdullah, was beheaded in Buraidah after being convicted of
a Saudi man, Suleiman bin Abdullah, was beheaded in Buraidah after being convicted of
- DECEMBER 21, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: THREE INDIANS SAVED FROM EXECUTION
Three Indians on death row in Saudi Arabia for the murder of their compatriot have been saved from being
- DECEMBER 17, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: PAKISTANI HEROIN TRAFFICKER BEHEADED
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani for heroin smuggling, the interior ministry said, in the kingdom’s latest