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
MARCH 14, 2012Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI 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 PENALTYSAUDI 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 PENALTYSAUDI 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, 2012MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: ‘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, 2012PhilippinesDEATH PENALTYSAUDI 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 PENALTYINDONESIA: 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 PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: MAN BEHEADED FOR KILLING
A man convicted in Saudi Arabia of raping and killing a young female relative was beheaded
- 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 3, 2012NepalDEATH 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,
- DECEMBER 27, 2011IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: THREE MIGRANT WORKERS ON DEATH ROW RELEASED
three Indonesian migrant workers facing death penalty in Saudi Arabia had been freed by the authority
DECEMBER 21, 2011EgyptDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: 2 EXECUTED FOR KILLING FILIPINO TRUCK DRIVER
two Egyptian nationals convicted of murdering a Filipino truck driver were executed in Riyadh, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.
- DECEMBER 12, 2011IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: TWO MIGRANT WORKERS AWAIT DEATH SENTENCE
the government is still working to save two Indonesia migrant workers, Tuti Tursilawati and Siti Zaenab, on death row in Saudi Arabia. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had sent a pardon request to the Saudi Arabian King in October.
DECEMBER 12, 2011Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: WOMAN BEHEADED FOR 'SORCERY'
A Saudi woman was beheaded after being convicted of practising sorcery, which is