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
- 1,878
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 1,878 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
- JUNE 19, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed an Egyptian farm worker who was...
Saudi Arabia executed an Egyptian farm worker who was convicted of beating to death a Pakistani colleague and then setting the corpse on fire, the official Saudi Press Agency reported
- JUNE 18, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed an Indian man convicted of raping...
Saudi Arabia executed an Indian man convicted of raping and strangling to death a four-year-old girl, the official Saudi Press Agency reported
- JUNE 15, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded on four men who were among seven...
Saudi Arabia beheaded on four men who were among seven Saudis convicted of drug trading and killing a policeman, the official Saudi Press Agency reported
- JUNE 15, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi man was beheaded for shooting dead his father,...
A Saudi man was beheaded for shooting dead his father, the official Saudi Press Agency reported
- JUNE 14, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The official Saudi Press Agency reported a Saudi man...
The official Saudi Press Agency reported a Saudi man was beheaded for stabbing dead a compatriot during a fight after the two left school
- JUNE 8, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The Saudi Interior Ministry said that the Islamic Shari'ah...
The Saudi Interior Ministry said that the Islamic Shari'ah Court had found Salim Bin-Da'san al-Utawi, a Saudi national, guilty of murdering his compatriot Ahmad Bin-Mansur Bin-Dagriri and sentenced him to death
- MAY 29, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded three Saudi men for crimes ranging...
Saudi Arabia beheaded three Saudi men for crimes ranging from theft to sodomy
- MAY 25, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saad bin Ali bin Jam'an al-Dossari was beheaded for murder
Saad bin Ali bin Jam'an al-Dossari was beheaded for murder
- MAY 21, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded two Saudi men for the separate...
Saudi Arabia beheaded two Saudi men for the separate murders of compatriots
- MAY 18, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Two men were beheaded in the northwestern city of Tabuk...
Two men were beheaded in the northwestern city of Tabuk for murdering a police officer and trafficking in drugs
- MAY 18, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded seven men for gang rape
Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded seven men for gang rape
- MAY 7, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Egyptian man for stabbing...
Saudi Arabia beheaded an Egyptian man for stabbing to death an Egyptian woman and her son after a dispute
- MAY 6, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Yemeni man for murdering his...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Yemeni man for murdering his Saudi employer and wife while trying to rob them
- MAY 4, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi man for killing another...
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Saudi man for killing another national after a dispute
- APRIL 30, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The Islamic Shari'ah Court convicted Saudi national...
The Islamic Shari'ah Court convicted Saudi national Humud Bin-Fahd Bin-Salim al-Naturi of murdering his compatriot Turki Bin-abd-al-Rahman Bin-Mihda al-Shamri
- APRIL 25, 2001Saudi 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 on April 25, 2001 (2001/68)
- APRIL 19, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia beheaded in Khamis Mushayt, Abd-al-Aziz...
Saudi Arabia beheaded in Khamis Mushayt, Abd-al-Aziz Bin-Shai Bin-Ali al-Shahrani a Saudi man, for stabbing to death a compatriot during a fight
- APRIL 10, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Hibah Bin-Zulan Bin-Jubran Hurubi, a Saudi resident,...
Hibah Bin-Zulan Bin-Jubran Hurubi, a Saudi resident, was beheaded for raping colleague's wife after threatening her with a knife
- APRIL 6, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Hamid bin Makbool bin Muhammad Al Heji Al Safyani was...
Hamid bin Makbool bin Muhammad Al Heji Al Safyani was beheaded for shooting to death his Nigerian wife during an argument
- APRIL 5, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Sheikh Humoud bin Aqla Al Shuabi, a prominent religious...
Sheikh Humoud bin Aqla Al Shuabi, a prominent religious figure in Al Qaseem, Saudi Arabia, has issued a fatwa, calling for famous Kuwaiti artist, Abdullah Al Rwaishid, to be sentenced to death for using a chapter of the Holy Quran in a song
- MARCH 30, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A killer was beheaded in Saudi Arabia
A killer was beheaded in Saudi Arabia
- MARCH 20, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Abd-al-Ilah Muhammad Bin-Ali al-Sayyid, a Sudanese...
Abd-al-Ilah Muhammad Bin-Ali al-Sayyid, a Sudanese man was executed in the Saudi city of Mecca after being found guilty of the murder of a compatriot, Ata al-Minan Bin-Muhammad, following an argument
- MARCH 13, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudi Arabia executed one of its nationals after he...
Saudi Arabia executed one of its nationals after he was convicted of murder, in the capital Riyadh
- FEBRUARY 22, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Sami bin Sulaiman al-Qurashi, a Saudi national was...
Sami bin Sulaiman al-Qurashi, a Saudi national was publicly beheaded after being found guilty by an Islamic shari'a court of murdering a compatriot
- FEBRUARY 19, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi man was executed in the city of Najran for...
A Saudi man was executed in the city of Najran for strangling his sister to death
- FEBRUARY 18, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Prince Charles pleaded with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince...
Prince Charles pleaded with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz for the lives of three Britons who face being beheaded in Saudi Arabia, after Arab Ministers vowed to carry out their executions
- FEBRUARY 16, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Pakistani man was executed in the sea port city of...
A Pakistani man was executed in the sea port city of Jedah for stabbing to death his Afghan wife
- FEBRUARY 13, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Saudi man was executed in the Qassim region for murdering...
A Saudi man was executed in the Qassim region for murdering a compatriot during a dispute
- FEBRUARY 13, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo instructed...
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo instructed the Department of Foreign Affairs to appeal the case of six overseas Filipino workers who were sentenced to death in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- FEBRUARY 9, 2001Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Justin Rodway, son of Briton Christopher Rodway killed...
Justin Rodway, son of Briton Christopher Rodway killed in Riyadh, said he was not an advocate of capital punishment but had been forced to rethink his views following the death of his father