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 8, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded two men for raping a woman after...
Saudi Arabia beheaded two men for raping a woman after grabbing her as she and her husband walked through Riyadh, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported
- MAY 3, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man after he was convicted...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man after he was convicted of murder, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported
- APRIL 30, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi man who murdered his mother and four other...
A Saudi man who murdered his mother and four other people with a knife was publicly beheaded
- APRIL 30, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A human rights group criticised Saudi Arabia's "secretive"...
A human rights group criticised Saudi Arabia's "secretive" judicial system following confusion over the sentencing of seven Westerners on trial for alleged involvement in a bombing campaign in the kingdom
- APRIL 28, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani man for knifing to...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani man for knifing to death a compatriot, the official Saudi Press Agency reported
- APRIL 28, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
International human rights groups and British MPs expressed...
International human rights groups and British MPs expressed outrage after two Britons accused of masterminding a bombing campaign in Saudi Arabia were secretly given lengthy jail sentences
- APRIL 27, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Labour MSP [Member of the Scottish Parliament] expressed...
A Labour MSP [Member of the Scottish Parliament] expressed "deep concern" at reports that a Scot had been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for alleged involvement in a bombing campaign
- APRIL 27, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Briton faces beheading in Saudi Arabia after he admitted...
A Briton faces beheading in Saudi Arabia after he admitted planting a car bomb which killed a fellow expatriate
- APRIL 27, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Britain declined to comment on a report that two Britons...
Britain declined to comment on a report that two Britons had been secretly sentenced to 18 years in jail for alleged involvement in a fatal bombing campaign in Saudi Arabia
- APRIL 26, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Canada was urgently checking an unconfirmed report...
Canada was urgently checking an unconfirmed report that a Canadian businessman in Saudi Arabia accused of being involved in a fatal bombing was sentenced to death in a secret trial, officials said
- APRIL 26, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The Saudi lawyer of a Canadian accused of involvement...
The Saudi lawyer of a Canadian accused of involvement in a fatal bombing denied reports that his client had been sentenced to death in a secret trial in the Muslim kingdom
- APRIL 25, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia voted against the resolution 2002/77 on...
Saudi Arabia voted against the resolution 2002/77 on the death penalty at the 58th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 11, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi man for shooting dead...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi man for shooting dead a soldier outside an air base, the official Saudi Press Agency reported
- APRIL 10, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The number of state-sanctioned executions around the...
The number of state-sanctioned executions around the world doubled in 2001, mainly because of a crackdown on crime in China, Amnesty International said
- APRIL 9, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A British businessman who ran an illicit drinking club...
A British businessman who ran an illicit drinking club in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to 800 lashes in a secret trial
- MARCH 31, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Hussein Ahmad al-Ramahi was publicly beheaded for armed...
Hussein Ahmad al-Ramahi was publicly beheaded for armed robbery
- MARCH 15, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Five Britons accused of bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia...
Five Britons accused of bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia have retracted their confessions
- MARCH 11, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A man was publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia for murdering...
A man was publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia for murdering a man by running over him several times with his car
- FEBRUARY 27, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia is trying seven foreigners accused of...
Saudi Arabia is trying seven foreigners accused of bomb attacks that raised fears of anti-western terror in the kingdom, the interior minister said
- FEBRUARY 11, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Thirty-five convicted drug traffickers were executed...
Thirty-five convicted drug traffickers were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2000, in most cases after swift, secret trials without lawyers or juries
- FEBRUARY 1, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi man for shooting a compatriot...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi man for shooting a compatriot to death after a dispute
- FEBRUARY 1, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Three Moroccan human rights associations called for...
Three Moroccan human rights associations called for a new trial for Majda Mostefa Mahir, a Moroccan woman recently condemned to death for the killing of a Saudi prince, Farid Ben Abdallah Al-Mishari Al-Saoud
- JANUARY 30, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Prince Talal bin, half-brother of King Fahd of Saudi...
Prince Talal bin, half-brother of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, said that if the kingdom, an absolute monarchy, is to integrate itself in the modern world it needs a gradual political evolution
- JANUARY 15, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Islamic scholars from across the Muslim world, in a...
Islamic scholars from across the Muslim world, in a bid to align themselves with the global movement against terrorism, have agreed on a definition of the term, but excluded Palestinian attacks against Israel from their condemnation
- JANUARY 1, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Three Saudi nationals convicted of homosexuality were...
Three Saudi nationals convicted of homosexuality were beheaded in the south of the country on January 1
- JANUARY 1, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic...
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law that prescribes the death sentence for murder, rape, drug trafficking and armed robbery
- JANUARY 1, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Of 889 executions recorded by Amnesty International...
Of 889 executions recorded by Amnesty International between 1990 and 2000, over half of the victims were migrant workers
- JANUARY 1, 2002Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Seven Westerners, including five Britons, are awaiting...
Seven Westerners, including five Britons, are awaiting trial in Saudi Arabia for some of the bomb attacks and could face the death penalty if convicted
- DECEMBER 3, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
HRH Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier,...
HRH Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, paid SR4 million to save the neck of Ahmed Yahia Muhammad Al-Mutami who spent seven years in Hafr Al-Batin prison awaiting execution for preme
- NOVEMBER 13, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi national Abdallah Bin-Zafir Bin-Dabban al-Qahtani...
Saudi national Abdallah Bin-Zafir Bin-Dabban al-Qahtani was executed in Abha, according to the Saudi Interior Ministry, the Saudi news agency reported