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
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed a Saudi man for stabbing to death...
Saudi Arabia executed a Saudi man for stabbing to death a female relative, the Interior Ministry said
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mohamed bin Said bin Mohamed Ali was publicly beheaded...
Mohamed bin Said bin Mohamed Ali was publicly beheaded for murder
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Hasan bin Jaber Hroubi was publicly beheaded for murder
Hasan bin Jaber Hroubi was publicly beheaded for murder
- AUGUST 30, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Iraqis convicted of beating and stabbing to death...
Two Iraqis convicted of beating and stabbing to death an elderly Sudanese man and then stealing his money were executed
- AUGUST 29, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
An Interior Ministry statement said that Ali bin Ayed...
An Interior Ministry statement said that Ali bin Ayed bin Shadad, a Saudi national convicted of multiple armed robbery, was executed
- AUGUST 21, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
An unnamed man who killed a male relative with a machine...
An unnamed man who killed a male relative with a machine gun because of a dispute was beheaded in the province of Asir, the Interior Ministry said
- AUGUST 20, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Pakistani man convicted of smuggling heroin into...
A Pakistani man convicted of smuggling heroin into the Gulf Arab state was beheaded, the Interior Ministry said
- AUGUST 14, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Hayel al-Sayed Mohammedain, an Egyptian man convicted...
Hayel al-Sayed Mohammedain, an Egyptian man convicted of murder was beheaded
- AUGUST 12, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The Saudi authorities executed Yemeni national Muhammad...
The Saudi authorities executed Yemeni national Muhammad Bin-Hasan Bin-Umar Bin-Ali in Jedda after he was convicted by the Islamic Sharia Court of rape and theft
- AUGUST 12, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The beheading of an Indian national, convicted of smuggling...
The beheading of an Indian national, convicted of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia, at a public place in al Khobar highlights the need for creating awareness among job seekers from being exploited as drug carriers
- AUGUST 11, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia flogged 12 teenage boys in public for...
Saudi Arabia flogged 12 teenage boys in public for harassing women, Saudi media reported
- AUGUST 11, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mohammed Ali Haji, an Indian national convicted of...
Mohammed Ali Haji, an Indian national convicted of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia, was beheaded in Al Khobar, the Saudi news agency (SPA) said
- AUGUST 4, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Iraqi man for kidnapping a...
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Iraqi man for kidnapping a Saudi national for ransom, the Saudi Press Agency reported
- JULY 31, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Russia lashed out at Saudi Arabia for handing down...
Russia lashed out at Saudi Arabia for handing down light jail sentences to two Chechens who hijacked a Russian plane at knifepoint last year, saying the verdict could make the kingdom look like a "breeding ground for potential terrorists
- JULY 31, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The verdict handed down by Saudi Arabia's Shariah Court...
The verdict handed down by Saudi Arabia's Shariah Court to the hijackers of a Russian aircraft suggests that the court practices double standards, the deputy head of the Russian governmental administration Alexei Volin stated
- JULY 29, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The mother of a man killed by a car bomb in Saudi Arabia...
The mother of a man killed by a car bomb in Saudi Arabia asked for clemency towards the Scottish man convicted of murdering him
- JULY 29, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Scot and a Canadian lost their appeals against the...
A Scot and a Canadian lost their appeals against the death sentence in Saudi Arabia
- JULY 26, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi man for shooting dead...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi man for shooting dead a relative in a row over ownership of agricultural land, the Saudi Press Agency reported
- JULY 25, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Pakistani national Muhammad Qol Muhammad Nabi Fatih...
Pakistani national Muhammad Qol Muhammad Nabi Fatih Qol was executed in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, after being convicted by the Islamic Shari'ah Court of smuggling drugs into the kingdom, according to a Saudi Interior Ministry statement carried by the Sau
- JULY 23, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Lawyers for the five Britons held in connection with...
Lawyers for the five Britons held in connection with anti-western bombings in Saudi Arabia lodged defence submissions with the supreme court in the kingdom
- JULY 17, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a murderer the official Saudi...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a murderer the official Saudi Press Agency reported
- JULY 12, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Indian man for killing three...
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Indian man for killing three Saudi women after breaking into their homes, the Saudi Press Agency reported
- JUNE 16, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mohammad bin Ali al-Khorim , a Saudi man convicted...
Mohammad bin Ali al-Khorim , a Saudi man convicted of murder was beheaded by the sword in the southern province of Najran
- JUNE 1, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia sentenced some of the men it arrested...
Saudi Arabia sentenced some of the men it arrested in the 1996 bombing of a U
- MAY 28, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The Saudi news agency, SPA, carried a Saudi Interior...
The Saudi news agency, SPA, carried a Saudi Interior Ministry statement saying that the Islamic Shari'ah Court had convicted Saudi national Dawud Bin-Muhammad Bin-Salih Al Mutarid al-Yami of the crime of murdering his compatriot Muhammad Bin-Husayn Bin-Al
- MAY 21, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Philippine Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said...
Philippine Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said she would ask the Saudi Arabian government to spare the lives of three overseas Filipino workers sentenced to execution in the Middle East kingdom during the six-day visit to Saudi Arabia from May 23 t
- MAY 18, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A man was beheaded for raping another man, the Saudi...
A man was beheaded for raping another man, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement quoted by AP
- MAY 13, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Afghan man convicted of smuggling...
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Afghan man convicted of smuggling an unspecified amount of heroin into the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported
- MAY 12, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi woman for murdering her...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi woman for murdering her father and an Ethiopian man for killing a compatriot with an axe, the Saudi Press Agency reported
- MAY 10, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded four Pakistani men for bludgeoning...
Saudi Arabia beheaded four Pakistani men for bludgeoning to death a compatriot to steal his possessions, the official Saudi Press Agency reported