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
- 1,877
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 1,877 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
- NOVEMBER 12, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
COURT REJECTS DEATH FOR LEBANESE SORCERER
the Supreme Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia...
OCTOBER 29, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SAUDI EXECUTED FOR KILLING BANGLADESHI TAXI DRIVER
Saudi Arabian national Yahya bin Hussein bin Ahmed Magrashi was
- OCTOBER 24, 2010Sri LankaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: NAFEEK'S DEATH SENTENCE CONFIRMED
Chief Justice Abdullah Al-Rosaimi of the Supreme Court in Riyadh...
- OCTOBER 23, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI MAN AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT
a judge in Saudi Arabia sentenced a man to death for sexually harassing a woman. According to local Saudi news reports, a judge in the town of Arar found the man guilty of trying to blackmail the woman with intimate pictures of herself.
OCTOBER 22, 2010PakistanDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: TWO PAKISTANIS EXECUTED FOR RAPE, THEFT
Pakistanis Kahram Shah Zad and Mohammed Abdulqadeer were executed in Riyadh, Saudi
- OCTOBER 18, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE IN RAPE-MURDER
chief judge Suleiman Al-Dakhil of the Mecca High Court in Saudi Arabia sentenced an unidentified man to death for raping and murdering a Umm Al-Qura University lecturer...
- OCTOBER 8, 2010IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN, SAUDI ARABIA, SUDAN: END JUVENILE DEATH PENALTY
only three countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan - are known to have executed an individual since the beginning of 2009 for a crime committed before age 18, Human Rights Watch said today.
- OCTOBER 7, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi national beheaded in Riyad
7 October 2018: Abdullah bin Ali bin Mohammed Aatiq executed for murder
- OCTOBER 3, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
AMNESTY URGES SAUDI KING TO COMMUTE DEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International issued an urgent request to the Saudi Arabian monarch to commute the death sentences of Lebanese television psychic Ali Hussain Sibat and another man, both convicted for practicing black magic in the desert kingdom.
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MAN BEHEADED FOR MURDER
Saudi Arabia beheaded a murderer by the sword in Medina, the interior ministry announced
SEPTEMBER 20, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI BEHEADS MAN CONVICTED OF RAPE
in Saudi Arabia, Abdullah al-Mohammadi was beheaded by the sword in Medina for raping a Saudi
- AUGUST 18, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: PARDON BY VICTIM’S FATHER SAVES SAUDI FROM GALLOWS
a Saudi court annulled a death sentence against a drunk driver who killed another Saudi in Jeddah after he was pardoned by the victim’s father, newspaper Okaz reported.
- JULY 20, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: SAUDI MAN EXECUTED FOR MURDER
A Saudi man was beheaded by sword in the Western city of Taif after being convicted of
JUNE 29, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SAUDI MAN EXECUTED FOR MURDER
Obeid bin Saif al-Qahtani was beheaded by the sword in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for fatally
- JUNE 28, 2010EgyptDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI SENTENCED TO DEATH IN EGYPT FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
the criminal court of Ismailia, in northeast Egypt, found Saudi Arabian national Lafi Munther Farhhan...
JUNE 21, 2010YemenDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA BEHEADS AND NAILS MAN'S BODY TO CROSS
Saudi Arabia executed two men, the interior ministry said in a statement cited by the official
- JUNE 14, 2010IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIAN EMBASSY IN RIYADH DENIES DEATH PENALTY REPORTS
the Indian Embassy in Riyadh denied reports that Sabir Ansari, an Indian national, had been sentenced to death for killing a compatriot in Saudi Arabia.
- JUNE 13, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MAN DECAPITATED FOR MURDER
Saudi Arabian national Hanni al-Barqawi was executed by beheading in Mecca
JUNE 5, 2010SudanDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: SUDANESE MAN BEHEADED FOR MURDER
Sudanese man Faisal Ali Abdel Ghani Ahmed was beheaded in Saudi Arabia for
- MAY 25, 2010PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: PINOY SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SAUDI FILES APPEAL
overseas Filipino worker Joselito Zapanta, from Pampanga province...
- MAY 25, 2010EgyptDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: AL-JUNAIDI SENTENCE ENDORSED
the Court of Cassation in Medina, Saudi Arabia, ratified the death sentence handed to Egyptian nationals Muhammad Al-Junaidi and his sister...
- MAY 14, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SUDANESE MAN FACING EXECUTION IN SAUDI ARABIA OVER 'SORCERY' CHARGES
Amnesty International urged Saudi Arabia to halt the possibly imminent execution of a Sudanese man who was sentenced to death for "sorcery".
- MAY 1, 2010PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: OFW GETS DEATH SENTENCE IN JEDDAH
an overseas Filipino worker was sentenced to death in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for killing an Indian national and wounding another in February 2009, a report the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah said. Alberto del Rosario has appealed to the Court of Ca
- APRIL 28, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: SAUDI BEHEADED FOR MURDER
Saudi Arabian national Hussein al-Darwish was beheaded by the sword in Qatif
- APRIL 27, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: MAN BEHEADED FOR MURDER
Saudi authorities executed a man by beheading after he was sentenced to death
APRIL 25, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA: MAN DECAPITATED FOR MURDER
A Saudi man was decapitated by the sword in the eastern city of Dammam, in Saudi
- APRIL 21, 2010LebanonDEATH PENALTY
SAUDIS NOT TO BEHEAD LEBANESE PYSCHIC
a Lebanese TV psychic condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi Arabian court while visiting the country will not be beheaded, his lawyer said.
- APRIL 17, 2010PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: OFW SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING LANDLORD
a Filipino male overseas worker identified only as Joseph from Mexico, Pampanga, was sentenced
- APRIL 6, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: 3 OFWs SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SAUDI
overseas Filipino workers Victorino Gaspar Jr., Paul Miquibas, and Edgardo Genetiano were found guilty of killing and robbing Filipino worker Raymundo Dimaculangan in Jeddah by the Jizan General Shari'ah Court in Saudi Arabia and were sentenced to death.
- APRIL 2, 2010Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA 'HOLDS OFF ON EXECUTING SORCERER'
Saudi Arabia apparently stayed the execution of Lebanese former TV presenter Ali Sibat who was convicted of sorcery.