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
- MAY 26, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International said in its report for 2003 that...
Amnesty International said in its report for 2003 that "gross" human rights violations continued in Saudi Arabia where discrimination against women also remained "endemic"
- MAY 17, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi national Sarhan bin Hassen bin Mahdi al-Kobra,...
Saudi national Sarhan bin Hassen bin Mahdi al-Kobra, convicted of murdering a compatriot after a quarrel, was beheaded by the sword in the country's capital Riyadh
- MAY 1, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Prince Fahd bin Nayef, a minor Saudi prince aged 19,...
Prince Fahd bin Nayef, a minor Saudi prince aged 19, was saved from the executioner's sword by a last-minute pardon by the father of the teenager he murdered
- APRIL 26, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Dheeb bin Mohammed bin Bashir al-Qahtani was executed...
Dheeb bin Mohammed bin Bashir al-Qahtani was executed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after being convicted of killing another Saudi in a row over money
- APRIL 21, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia voted against the resolution on the death...
Saudi Arabia voted against the resolution on the death penalty at the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 20, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Seif bin Olayan bin Mohammad al-Zughaibi, a Saudi national,...
Seif bin Olayan bin Mohammad al-Zughaibi, a Saudi national, was executed in Riyadh for shooting Abdullah bin Marzouq al-Harbi after a row which broke out as they drove in the capital
- APRIL 20, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Wahab Widad, a Pakistani convicted of smuggling...
Mohammad Wahab Widad, a Pakistani convicted of smuggling heroin, was executed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- APRIL 13, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Kuwait's court of cassation, the emirate's highest...
Kuwait's court of cassation, the emirate's highest court, upheld a death sentence for two Saudi brothers and a Kuwaiti for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in May 2002
- APRIL 12, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law that prescribes the death sentence
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law that prescribes the death sentence
- MARCH 31, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia, which implements strict Islamic sharia...
Saudi Arabia, which implements strict Islamic sharia law, executed Jarwan bin Hamad bin Marhan al-Abdan, a Saudi man, for smuggling drugs into the kingdom
- MARCH 26, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Abdul-Karim al-Ghoraid, a 21-year-old convicted Saudi...
Abdul-Karim al-Ghoraid, a 21-year-old convicted Saudi murderer, escaped death by seconds when he was forgiven by his victim's father as he knelt down before the executioner's sword
- MARCH 9, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia's first independent human rights organisation...
Saudi Arabia's first independent human rights organisation won royal blessing in the latest sign of political reform within the conservative Muslim kingdom
- MARCH 1, 2004Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Dhafer Iqbal Qadhi Kalim, a Pakistani convicted of...
Dhafer Iqbal Qadhi Kalim, a Pakistani convicted of smuggling an undisclosed amount of heroin, was beheaded by the sword in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, the Saudi interior ministry said, announcing the first execution in the country this year
- DECEMBER 7, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Saeed bin Manea al-Harith, a convicted...
It was reported that Saeed bin Manea al-Harith, a convicted Saudi Arabian murderer, was spared execution after tribal sheikhs persuaded his victim's father to accept five million riyals ($1
- DECEMBER 4, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Qazma al-Qahtani, a Saudi woman condemned to death...
Qazma al-Qahtani, a Saudi woman condemned to death for suffocating her Saudi husband, Saeed al-Qahtani, as he slept, was beheaded by the sword on in Assir, in the south of the kingdom
- DECEMBER 3, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mashan al-Shamri, a Saudi citizen sentenced to death...
Mashan al-Shamri, a Saudi citizen sentenced to death for killing his father with a machine gun while he was asleep, was beheaded by sword in the eastern city of Dammam
- OCTOBER 22, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad Ramadan Sardar and Dhaher Shah bin Faqir Shah,...
Mohammad Ramadan Sardar and Dhaher Shah bin Faqir Shah, two Pakistani nationals sentenced to death for heroin smuggling, were beheaded by sword in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- OCTOBER 17, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Alfjan Mohammad Akbar Khan, a Pakistani found guilty...
Alfjan Mohammad Akbar Khan, a Pakistani found guilty of drug trafficking, was beheaded by the sword in the town of Huta Bani Tamim, in the Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia
- OCTOBER 13, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani man for smuggling...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani man for smuggling heroin into the conservative Gulf Arab state, the Interior Ministry said in a statement
- OCTOBER 7, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Khan Waley ben Sayed Mir Jan, a Pakistani national,...
Khan Waley ben Sayed Mir Jan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia's city of Jeddah
- OCTOBER 1, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Qabel Ould Abderrahman Abderrahim, an Afghan found...
Qabel Ould Abderrahman Abderrahim, an Afghan found guilty of smuggling heroin, was beheaded by sword on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia's city of Jeddah
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Fadl Mullah Nour Mohammad, Pakistani found guilty of...
Fadl Mullah Nour Mohammad, Pakistani found guilty of drug trafficking heroin, was beheaded by the sword in the Saudi Arabia
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Daher Shah Arab Khan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded...
Daher Shah Arab Khan, a Pakistani national, was beheaded by sword in the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah, after admitting that "he smuggled a quantity of heroin into the kingdom," a statement issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry said
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Dhaher bin Nahar Al-Chemmari, a Saudi national accused...
Dhaher bin Nahar Al-Chemmari, a Saudi national accused of smuggling an unknown quantity of hashish into the country, was beheaded by sword in the eastern Saudi province of Hafr Al-Baten
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian Abdul Hafid Ouari and Pakistani national Habibullah...
Nigerian Abdul Hafid Ouari and Pakistani national Habibullah Gholam, convicted of respectively smuggling cocaine and heroin into Saudi Arabia, were publicly beheaded in the city of Jeddah
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
An Afghan and a Pakistani convicted of drug trafficking...
An Afghan and a Pakistani convicted of drug trafficking were beheaded in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, the Saudi interior ministry said
- AUGUST 26, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Pakistani men convicted of drug trafficking were...
Two Pakistani men convicted of drug trafficking were beheaded in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabian city
- AUGUST 22, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mashari bin Omair al-Shahrani, a Saudi national, was...
Mashari bin Omair al-Shahrani, a Saudi national, was beheaded for stabbing his father to death inside a mosque
- AUGUST 13, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Sudanese national Idriss bin Adam bin Ali and Abdullah...
Sudanese national Idriss bin Adam bin Ali and Abdullah bin Yahia Mohammed of Chad, were publicly executed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after being found guilty of smuggling hallucinogenic tablets into the kingdom
- AUGUST 13, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saad bin Ateq al-Harbi, a Saudi national convicted...
Saad bin Ateq al-Harbi, a Saudi national convicted of shooting dead Mohammed bin Muateq al-Harbi, was publicly decapitated by sword in the Kingdom's eastern Al-Ihsa province