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
- AUGUST 10, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Assadullah bin Mohammed Jan bin Rahim Dad, known as...
Assadullah bin Mohammed Jan bin Rahim Dad, known as Mohammed Nabi Hamsha, an Afghan national found guilty of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia, was beheaded by sword in the Red Sea city of Jeddah
- AUGUST 10, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Lal Rahman Habibullah Khan, a Pakistani national caught...
Lal Rahman Habibullah Khan, a Pakistani national caught smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia and convicted of drug trafficking, was beheaded by sword in the Saudi capital Riyadh
- AUGUST 8, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Five Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian convicted of...
Five Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian convicted of carrying out a wave of bombings in Saudi Arabia in 2000 and early 2001 were freed by the Gulf state
- AUGUST 1, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Rashed bin Modhesh al-Dosari, a Saudi national convicted...
Rashed bin Modhesh al-Dosari, a Saudi national convicted of shooting a compatriot to death following an argument, was executed in the Riyadh region by public beheading
- AUGUST 1, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Rana Mohammed Shafik Mohammed Rafik, a Pakistani national...
Rana Mohammed Shafik Mohammed Rafik, a Pakistani national caught smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia, was executed in the kingdom by public beheading in the western city of Jeddah
- JULY 23, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Ayedh bin Eid bin Ayedh al-Shamlani al-Enezi, a Saudi...
Ayedh bin Eid bin Ayedh al-Shamlani al-Enezi, a Saudi citizen convicted of stabbing a compatriot to death was beheaded by the sword in the capital Riyadh
- JULY 18, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Utaik al-Islam Khan, a Bangladeshi man convicted of...
Utaik al-Islam Khan, a Bangladeshi man convicted of murdering a Saudi national, was beheaded by the sword in the western region of Mecca
- JULY 11, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Ali bin Zuheir al-Qorni, a Saudi, was executed in the...
Ali bin Zuheir al-Qorni, a Saudi, was executed in the Mecca region by beheading
- JULY 11, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Omar Khaleq Abdul Khaleq, a Pakistani national convicted...
Omar Khaleq Abdul Khaleq, a Pakistani national convicted of trying to smuggle an unknown quantity of heroin into Saudi Arabia, was beheaded in the country by sword near Riyadh
- JULY 9, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Abdullah Othman Ashur al-Tareqi, a Mali national convicted...
Abdullah Othman Ashur al-Tareqi, a Mali national convicted of murdering a compatriot in Saudi Arabia, was beheaded by sword in the capital Riyadh
- JULY 6, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Makhdoum Ahmad bin Wali Mohammad, a Pakistani national,...
Makhdoum Ahmad bin Wali Mohammad, a Pakistani national, was executed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after he was convicted of attempting to smuggle a quantity of heroin into the kingdom
- JULY 6, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Khaled Nasser bin Shaye al-Dossari, a Saudi national,...
Khaled Nasser bin Shaye al-Dossari, a Saudi national, was executed by public beheading for murdering a female compatriot following a dispute
- JULY 4, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saud bin Mohammad bin Hamad al-Idhiani, a Saudi citizen...
Saud bin Mohammad bin Hamad al-Idhiani, a Saudi citizen convicted of stabbing a compatriot to death, was beheaded by the sword in Afif in the Riyadh region
- JULY 3, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Ali bin Saeed al-Shahrani, a Saudi citizen convicted...
Ali bin Saeed al-Shahrani, a Saudi citizen convicted of shooting a compatriot to death, was beheaded by the sword in the southern province of Assir
- JULY 2, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW)...
International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Saudi Arabia to spare two female housemaids, from Indonesia and the Philippines, on death row for allegedly killing their female employers
- JUNE 30, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Hekmat Shah Ahmad, a Pakistani man convicted in Saudi...
Hekmat Shah Ahmad, a Pakistani man convicted in Saudi Arabia of drug trafficking, was beheaded by the sword in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah
- JUNE 22, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi Arabian man was beheaded after being convicted...
A Saudi Arabian man was beheaded after being convicted of beating to death a compatriot in a dispute over a plot of farm land
- JUNE 17, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi citizen convicted of murdering a compatriot...
A Saudi citizen convicted of murdering a compatriot was beheaded by the sword in the capital Riyadh
- JUNE 6, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Salama bin Mteir al-Atwi, a Saudi citizen convicted...
Salama bin Mteir al-Atwi, a Saudi citizen convicted of murdering a compatriot, was beheaded by sword in the north-western province of Tabuk
- JUNE 5, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabias leading executioner lifted the veil on...
Saudi Arabias leading executioner lifted the veil on a taboo in the kingdom, revealing the gruesome reality of the beheading of men and women in the name of God
- MAY 18, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi defence lawyers appealed to King Fahd to free...
Saudi defence lawyers appealed to King Fahd to free five Britons and a Canadian convicted of planting a car bomb that killed a Briton in November 2000
- MAY 17, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Fuhaid bin Ali bin Saad al-Qarni, a Saudi citizen convicted...
Fuhaid bin Ali bin Saad al-Qarni, a Saudi citizen convicted of murdering a compatriot in a dispute, was beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia's southern province of Assir
- MAY 11, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Fahd Bin-Hadi Bin-Muhammad, a Saudi national, was executed...
Fahd Bin-Hadi Bin-Muhammad, a Saudi national, was executed in Riyadh city after being convicted a fellow national
- MAY 9, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Sultan Khan Osman Omrah, an Afghani convicted of drug...
Sultan Khan Osman Omrah, an Afghani convicted of drug trafficking, was publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia
- MAY 9, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Kioual Man Limbou, a Nepalese man convicted of murder,...
Kioual Man Limbou, a Nepalese man convicted of murder, was publicly beheaded by sword in Saudi Arabia
- MAY 4, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Abdul Rahman bin Hanash al-Shihri was publicly beheaded...
Abdul Rahman bin Hanash al-Shihri was publicly beheaded in Riyadh for shooting dead a male relative in a dispute
- APRIL 24, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia voted against the resolution on the death...
Saudi Arabia voted against the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva
- APRIL 21, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Myan Gul Jan Khan, a Pakistani sentenced to death for...
Myan Gul Jan Khan, a Pakistani sentenced to death for drug trafficking, was publicly executed in a square in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, declared the Saudi Interior Ministry
- APRIL 13, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Salem Hussein Hasan al-Salami, an Iraqi convicted of...
Salem Hussein Hasan al-Salami, an Iraqi convicted of smuggling hashish, was publicly beheaded by sword in the northern Saudi city of Arar
- MARCH 29, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi man was beheaded after he was convicted of...
A Saudi man was beheaded after he was convicted of murdering a compatriot, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement