SAUDI ARABIA: HIGHEST EXECUTION TOLL IN DECADES AS AUTHORITIES PUT TO DEATH 198 PEOPLE

Saudi Arabian authorities have put to death over 198 individuals so far in 2024, the highest number of executions recorded in the country since 1990, Amnesty International said on September 28, 2024.
Despite repeated promises to limit the use of the death penalty, Saudi authorities have ramped up executions while routinely failing to abide by international fair trial standards and safeguards for defendants.
Executions for drug-related crimes soared this year, with 53 carried out so far – with an average of one execution every two days in July alone – rising from just two drug-related executions in 2023.
Authorities have also weaponised the death penalty to silence political dissent, punishing citizens from the country’s Shi’a minority who supported “anti-government” protests between 2011 and 2013.
“Saudi Arabia’s authorities are pursuing a relentless killing spree displaying a chilling disregard for human life while promoting an empty-worded campaign to rebrand their image,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“The death penalty is an abhorrent and inhuman punishment which Saudi Arabia has used against people for a wide range of offences, including political dissent and drug-related charges following grossly unfair trials. The authorities must immediately establish a moratorium on executions, and order re-trials for those on death row in line with international standards without resorting to the death penalty.”
In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 196 people – the highest annual number of executions that Amnesty International has recorded in the country in the last 30 years.