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
- 1,841
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 1,841 news items on Saudi Arabia, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- APRIL 4, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man found guilty of shooting dead a fellow Saudi
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man found guilty of shooting dead a fellow Saudi
APRIL 4, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: PAKISTANI EXECUTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
A Pakistani man has been executed in Saudi Arabia after being found guilty of drug trafficking.
MARCH 27, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: RELIGIOUS POLICE GIVEN MORE POWERS TO STEP UP WAR ON SORCERY
Saudi Arabia has decided to bolster its religious police unit specialized in arresting magicians within
- MARCH 16, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed an Egyptian convicted of murdering a citizen of the kingdom
Saudi Arabia executed an Egyptian convicted of murdering a citizen of the kingdom
- MARCH 14, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA EXECUTES MAN WHO STRANGLED MOTHER
Saudi Arabia executed a man convicted of strangling his mother to death, the interior ministry announced in a statement.
- MARCH 13, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed a Saudi who killed a man in a tribal feud
Saudi Arabia executed a Saudi who killed a man in a tribal feud
- MARCH 13, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed a a Syrian drug smuggler...
Saudi Arabia executed a a Syrian drug smuggler...
MARCH 12, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: DEATH ROW CONVICT ESCAPES
A 25-year-old Saudi prisoner who was on death row at the general prison in the southern
- MARCH 8, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: APOSTATE SAUDI WRITER REPENTS AT COURT
An apostate Saudi journalist who is believed to be facing execution for insulting Prophet
- MARCH 7, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man found guilty of shooting dead a fellow
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man found guilty of shooting dead a fellow
- MARCH 2, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man after he was convicted of drug trafficking
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man after he was convicted of drug trafficking
- FEBRUARY 29, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: SAUDI MAN FACES EXECUTION IN MAID KILLINGS
A Saudi Arabian man has been sentenced to death after being convicted of raping and murdering
FEBRUARY 28, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: CONVICT PARDONED MOMENTS BEFORE BEHEADING
a Saudi man sentenced to death for murder was pardoned by the victim’s father moments before his beheading.
- FEBRUARY 24, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man convicted of trafficking drugs in the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man convicted of trafficking drugs in the kingdom.
- FEBRUARY 14, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO DRUG TRAFFICKERS BEHEADED
Saudi Arabia beheaded two men convicted of drug trafficking in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry announced.
- FEBRUARY 12, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA DEPORTS SAUDI JOURNALIST
Malaysia deported a young Saudi journalist who is wanted in his home country over a
FEBRUARY 8, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: ‘BLASPHEMOUS’ SAUDI POET WILL BE EXTRADITED TO SAUDI ARABIA
A Saudi poet and writer, Kashghari Hamza, who fled over a week from his country to avoid threats
- FEBRUARY 7, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
the Higher Judicial Council said in a statement that Iraq has sentenced to death
the Higher Judicial Council said in a statement that Iraq has sentenced to death a Saudi man who was an Al-Qaeda leader in northern Iraq.
- FEBRUARY 2, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MURDER CONVICT EXECUTED
Saudi Arabia executed a man convicted of murder in the Kingdom's southwest. Abulrahman
- JANUARY 30, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: CONVICTED DRUG SMUGGLER BEHEADED
In Saudi Arabia, a Pakistani man convicted of trying to smuggle drugs into the kingdom
- JANUARY 27, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi newspaper Al-Eqtisadiah reported Saudi Arabia...
Saudi newspaper Al-Eqtisadiah reported Saudi Arabia...
- JANUARY 15, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: 'SUICIDAL' FILIPINO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING THREE
A Saudi court sentenced a Filipino man to death after he stole a bus and drove it
- JANUARY 14, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA: TWO MIGRANT WORKERS DODGE DEATH ROW IN SAUDI ARABIA
Two Indonesian women working in Saudi Arabia have been granted reprieves from death sentences
- JANUARY 8, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MAN BEHEADED FOR MURDER
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man convicted of murder, the interior minister said in a statement
- JANUARY 4, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: PINOY WHO KILLED FELLOW OFW ESCAPES DEATH PENALTY
An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who killed a fellow OFW in Saudi Arabia in 2008
JANUARY 4, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: MAN BEHEADED FOR KILLING
A man convicted in Saudi Arabia of raping and killing a young female relative was beheaded
- JANUARY 3, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: NEPALESE ON DEATH ROW PARDONED
A Nepalese migrant worker on death row in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, for killing a Pakistani
- JANUARY 2, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO NATIONALS EXECUTED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
Saudi Arabia beheaded two nationals in the eastern province of Al-Ahsa after convicting them of drug smuggling, the interior ministry said.
- JANUARY 1, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law that prescribes the death sentence for murder...
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law that prescribes the death sentence for murder, apostasy, rape, drug trafficking, highway robbery, sabotage and armed robbery.
- DECEMBER 28, 2011Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded in public a man,
Saudi Arabia beheaded in public a man,