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
- JULY 18, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Ibrahim Bin-Abdallah Bin-Muhammad al-Uthman, Abd-al-Ilah...
Ibrahim Bin-Abdallah Bin-Muhammad al-Uthman, Abd-al-Ilah Bin-Fahd Bin-Muhammad al-Twayyim, and Mishnan Bin-Mutlaq Bin-Ghanim al-Dawsari, were executed in Riyad for murdering and robbing a Saudi national, Ghannam Bin-Ghunayman Bin-Atiq al-Shammari
- JULY 18, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mukhtiara Khadem Hussein, a Pakistani woman, was executed...
Mukhtiara Khadem Hussein, a Pakistani woman, was executed after she was convicted of drug trafficking
- JULY 11, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Atiya ibn Obaid Atiya, Rajeh ibn Ibrahim Isa and Rajhi...
Atiya ibn Obaid Atiya, Rajeh ibn Ibrahim Isa and Rajhi ibn Hamad Ali were beheaded in Abha after they were convicted of sodomy, transvestitism, same-sex marriage and raping of young boys
- JULY 10, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Afzal Omar Shah, a Pakistani, was publicly beheaded...
Afzal Omar Shah, a Pakistani, was publicly beheaded in Riyadh after he was convicted of drug trafficking
- JULY 4, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A man was executed in Jizan for strangling to death...
A man was executed in Jizan for strangling to death his mother-in-law
- JULY 2, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Husam Bin-Kamal Bin-Fu'ad, a Syrian national, was executed...
Husam Bin-Kamal Bin-Fu'ad, a Syrian national, was executed in Jiddah in the Mecca region after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into Saudi Arabia
- JUNE 28, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A man was executed for stabbing a fellow citizen to death
A man was executed for stabbing a fellow citizen to death
- JUNE 23, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A man was executed in the northern city of Tabuk for...
A man was executed in the northern city of Tabuk for stabbing a fellow citizen to death after a dispute
- JUNE 19, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Warni Samiran Awdi, an Indonesian maid from Malang,...
Warni Samiran Awdi, an Indonesian maid from Malang, East Jave, who killed her employer's wife in 1998 by beating her on the head with an iron pipe, was beheaded in al-Ihsa region
- JUNE 16, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
The official Saudi Press Agency reported that a Pakistani...
The official Saudi Press Agency reported that a Pakistani man was beheaded in Dammam after being found guilty of smuggling an unspecified amount of heroin into the country
- JUNE 16, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Three Pakistanis and two Bangladeshis were executed...
Three Pakistanis and two Bangladeshis were executed Riyadh after having been found guilty of murder
- JUNE 11, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Wahhab Abdallah Tuta'il, an Indian man convicted of...
Wahhab Abdallah Tuta'il, an Indian man convicted of smuggling drugs into Saudi Arabia, was beheaded
- JUNE 10, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Sa'd Bin-Fatis Bin-Abdallah al-Zahrani was executed...
Sa'd Bin-Fatis Bin-Abdallah al-Zahrani was executed in Al-Mindak Governorate, Al-Bahah region
- JUNE 6, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Salih Hamad Muhammad Al-Ziyadi, an Iraqi national,...
Salih Hamad Muhammad Al-Ziyadi, an Iraqi national, was beheaded in Rafha after being convicted of smuggling drugs into the country
- JUNE 4, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Sa'id Bin-Salim Bin-Sa'id was executed in Mecca
Sa'id Bin-Salim Bin-Sa'id was executed in Mecca
- MAY 30, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Al-Haji Bin-Staro Bin-Adimola Bin-Yusuf, a Nigerian,...
Al-Haji Bin-Staro Bin-Adimola Bin-Yusuf, a Nigerian, was executed in Mecca after being convicted of smuggling heroin
- MAY 30, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Manuel Bruna Ronilion Peridon, a Filipino, was executed...
Manuel Bruna Ronilion Peridon, a Filipino, was executed in Mecca after being convicted of attempting to murder a Saudi national in the governorate of Jiddah (forse è lo stesso della notizia sopra)
- MAY 30, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
A Filipino man was sentenced to death and executed...
A Filipino man was sentenced to death and executed for stabbing and seriously wounding a taxi driver outside the Red Sea port city of Jeddah
- MAY 30, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Zeinullah Khan Arjoun Khan, a Pakistani, was beheaded...
Zeinullah Khan Arjoun Khan, a Pakistani, was beheaded in Riyad after being convicted of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia
- MAY 26, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Nawwaf Bin-Marzuq Bin-Abdallah and Mas'ad Bin-Luwayfi...
Nawwaf Bin-Marzuq Bin-Abdallah and Mas'ad Bin-Luwayfi Bin-Khudayr were executed in Medina after having been found guilty of consuming alcohol, then breaking into a house and raping a woman
- MAY 26, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Salim Ahmad Hassan Mash'ali, an Iraqi national, was...
Salim Ahmad Hassan Mash'ali, an Iraqi national, was executed in Hafr al-Batin, after having been found guilty of smuggling hashish into Saudi Arabia
- MAY 26, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Muhammad Mustafa Kamal Abd-al-Qadir Jadu, was executed...
Muhammad Mustafa Kamal Abd-al-Qadir Jadu, was executed and crucified after being found guilty of murdering his Saudi employer, Yusuf Bin-Ahmad Bin-Shahhat Bin-Muhammad Zaghbi
- MAY 25, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Adnan Bin-Abdallah Bin-Qasim Bin-Salih was beheaded...
Adnan Bin-Abdallah Bin-Qasim Bin-Salih was beheaded in Al-Ta'if, after the Grand Shari'ah Court found him guilty of "raping and causing the death of an Indonesian maid
- MAY 23, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
An Indian man convicted of killing a Saudi man and...
An Indian man convicted of killing a Saudi man and his son was executed
- MAY 16, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mengistab Abrahah Ould Girel and Kidani Balabi Dasta,...
Mengistab Abrahah Ould Girel and Kidani Balabi Dasta, both Eritreans, were executed in Al-Ta'if, after being convicted of killing their host by stabbing him to death with a knife several times and seizing his money
- MAY 15, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Isa Khan Sa'idallah, a Pakistani national, was executed...
Isa Khan Sa'idallah, a Pakistani national, was executed in Riyad after he was convicted of smuggling heroin into Saudi Arabia
- MAY 13, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Seven Nigerians convicted of holding up a bank in Jeddah...
Seven Nigerians convicted of holding up a bank in Jeddah were executed
- MAY 12, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Hanifah Bin-Hamzah Bubakudi, an Indian national, was...
Hanifah Bin-Hamzah Bubakudi, an Indian national, was executed in the Riyadh after being convicted of smuggling heroin into the country
- MAY 12, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Mish'al Bin-Hamdan Bin-Hilal al-Harbi, convicted of...
Mish'al Bin-Hamdan Bin-Hilal al-Harbi, convicted of assaulting and raping a girl, was executed in Medina
- MAY 11, 2000Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Falih Bin-Muslih Bin-Hujayj Al-Luhaybi was executed...
Falih Bin-Muslih Bin-Hujayj Al-Luhaybi was executed in Medina