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
SEPTEMBER 16, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SYRIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER BEHEADED
A Syrian convicted of drug trafficking was beheaded in Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry said.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI SENTENCES 2 TO DEATH, JAILS 13 FOR 'TERRORISM'
A Saudi court sentenced two men to death and 13 others to lengthy jail terms for killing a policeman and
SEPTEMBER 12, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: 3 BEHEADED FOR MURDER AND DRUG TRAFFICKING
A Saudi and an Iraqi convicted of murder and a Saudi convicted of drugs trafficking were beheaded in Riyadh, the interior ministry said.
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi authorities beheaded a national for murder, the interior ministry said, a day after a U.N. appeal for an
Saudi authorities beheaded a national for murder, the interior ministry said, a day after a U.N. appeal for an
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: THREE PEOPLE BEHEADED IN KINGDOM'S LATEST EXECUTIONS
Saudi authorities beheaded three prisoners in the latest two days.
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani convicted of drug trafficking and one of its own citizens for murder, the
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani convicted of drug trafficking and one of its own citizens for murder, the
SEPTEMBER 8, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYOFW FREED FROM SAUDI DEATH ROW NOW HOME
An Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia is finally home.
SEPTEMBER 2, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: 4 FOREIGN NATIONALS BEHEADED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
four drug traffickers from Syria and Iran were executed by beheading in northern and eastern Saudi Arabia, the government said.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: FOUR MORE MEN EXECUTED BY BEHEADING
Saudi authorities have executed four citizens in the last days, after they were convicted of murder in separate
- AUGUST 27, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi authorities beheaded three citizens after they were convicted
Saudi authorities beheaded three citizens after they were convicted
- AUGUST 26, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi authorities beheaded a citizen in the eastern Qatif region after he was convicted
Saudi authorities beheaded a citizen in the eastern Qatif region after he was convicted
AUGUST 24, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: EMIR INTERVENES TO SAVE A DEATH ROW INMATE
- AUGUST 23, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
the Saudi authorities executed a Syrian national in the northwestern city of Tabuk, after he was convicted of
the Saudi authorities executed a Syrian national in the northwestern city of Tabuk, after he was convicted of
- AUGUST 21, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MOM’S KILLER BEHEADED KHAMIS MUSHAIT
AUGUST 19, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: 3 MILITANTS SENTENCED TO DEATH, 26 JAILED ON TERRORISM CHARGES
AUGUST 19, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: ANOTHER PRISONER BEHEADED FOR MURDER
AUGUST 18, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: THE WAVE OF EXECUTIONS CONTINUES, ANOTHER FOUR BEHEADED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Saudi Arabia beheaded four nationals from the same family in the city of Najran for drug trafficking, amid a surge in executions in the country since the end of Ramadan.
- AUGUST 17, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO SAUDIS BEHEADED FOR MURDERING COMPATRIOTS
- AUGUST 14, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO PEOPLE BEHEADED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING AND MURDER
- AUGUST 12, 2014SyriaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: SYRIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER BEHEADED IN AL-JAWF REGION
- AUGUST 11, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: A NATIONAL BEHEADED FOR KILLING HIS WIFE
- AUGUST 8, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: THREE MEN BEHEADED FOR MURDER AND DRUG TRAFFICKING
- AUGUST 5, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MAGICIAN, MURDERER EXECUTED
Two Saudis were beheaded in the border town of Gurayyat in the Al-Jouf province, an Interior Ministry
- AUGUST 4, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: NEPALI MAID BEHEADED FOR TODDLER MURDER
Saudi authorities beheaded a Nepali housemaid convicted of murdering a two-year-old boy by slitting his
- JUNE 25, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO BEHEADED FOR RAPING MINORS
Saudi authorities beheaded two nationals convicted of raping minors in two separate cases.
JUNE 23, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BANK ROBBERY 'TERROR' PLAN
Three men were sentenced to death for attempting to establish an Al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia and
- JUNE 18, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: 26 DISSIDENTS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Saudi Arabia has sentenced twenty-six people to death on such charges as giving speeches critical of the Al
JUNE 11, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI MINISTER SAYS BEHEADING, LASHINGS 'CANNOT BE CHANGED'
Saudi Arabia’s Justice Minister has defended tough Sharia punishments such as beheading, cutting off hands
- JUNE 9, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO GET DEATH SENTENCE OVER SHIITE UNREST
a Saudi court in Jeddah sentenced two people to death and jailed a third for 25 years after they were
MAY 27, 2014Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SHIA ACTIVIST SENTENCED TO DEATH
A Saudi court sentenced to death a Shiite protester convicted of attacking police forces during unrest in the