NGOs condemn escalating use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia

On this World Day Against the Death Penalty, we, the undersigned organisations, express our horror at the alarming surge in executions in Saudi Arabia. In recent years, these have included numerous foreign nationals convicted of drug-related offences, Saudi citizens sentenced for peaceful dissent, and a young man executed for an offence allegedly committed while he was still a child – all in clear violation of international human rights law. According to data from the official Saudi Press Agency, the authorities have executed at least 292 people so far in 2025, including four women. They are on course to exceed last year’s record number of 345 executions, in contradiction of their own commitments to limit the use of the death penalty.

Of the 292 individuals publicly reported as having been executed so far this year (as of 9 October), 195 were executed for drug-related crimes, 151 of whom were foreign nationals from Asian and African countries including Somalia (38), Ethiopia (30), Pakistan (23), Egypt (16) and Afghanistan (12). This follows the reversal of a previously announced moratorium on executions for such offences that remained in place for 33 months between February 2020 and November 2022, and raises fears for the lives of hundreds of other prisoners threatened with imminent execution for non-lethal drug-related offences.

Such executions are in clear violation of international human rights law, which prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes that do not meet the “most serious crimes” threshold, which refers to intentional killing. Furthermore, rights groups have confirmed, from court documents and testimonies, a pattern of abuses suffered by foreign nationals in the course of their arrest, detention and trial. These include lack of access to consular support, legal representation, adequate interpretation and court documents, and hence the inability to mount a proper legal defence or appeal.

Further, 34 men have been executed in 2025 for “terrorism”-related offences, which, according to the vague and overly broad definition of terrorism in Saudi law, can include a wide range of non-lethal acts. In one such case, the sudden execution of Saudi journalist Turki al-Jasser on 14 June, after seven years of enforced disappearance, dramatically illustrated how the Saudi authorities weaponise the use of the death penalty as a tool to repress freedom of expression in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, Islamic scholars Salman al-Odah and Hassan Farhan al-Maliki, for whom the Public Prosecutor has called for the death penalty on a range of vaguely formulated charges, continue to have their trials drag on for unknown reasons. 

The Saudi authorities are also failing to deliver on what have proved to be false promises in relation to the use of the death penalty for juveniles. International human rights law prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed by people when they were children; however, the execution on 21 August 2025 of Saudi youth Jalal Labbad, convicted of crimes allegedly committed when he was under 18 years of age, invalidates the authorities’ claim to have ended this practice. Labbad, born 3 April 1995, was arrested for participating in 2011-2012 protests against the treatment of Saudi Arabia’s marginalised Shia community and attending funeral processions for those killed by security forces. His sentencing followed a grossly unfair trial that failed to meet basic standards of due process and relied almost exclusively on confessions extracted under torture.

Labbad’s execution raises grave fears for other child defendants at imminent risk of execution, including Abdullah al-Derazi, whose death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court and is now pending the king’s ratification for implementation. Four others, Youssef al-Manasef, Ali Hassan al-Subaiti, Jawad Qureiris and Hassan al-Faraj, recently had their death sentences upheld by the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal. 

Saudi Arabia has for years been among the countries carrying out the highest number of executions in the world, with 345 executions carried out in 2024, the highest annual figure reported since 1990. In the absence of transparency, and with executions sometimes carried out in secret, the real figures may be even higher. Families are often not notified in advance of executions, and there is no publicly accessible record of those executed, which further undermines transparency and accountability.

Yet while continuing to carry out these egregious human rights abuses, the Saudi authorities are at the same time striving to rebrand the kingdom on the international stage as modern and progressive, and to dazzle with megaprojects such as Neom, massive investments in global sports, including the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and the hosting of glitzy entertainment like this autumn’s incongruous Riyadh Comedy Festival. The international community should remain focused on the reality on the ground, including the past two years’ spike in executions and the ongoing systematic crackdown on free speech.

On this World Day Against the Death Penalty, we call on the Saudi authorities to:

• Implement an immediate moratorium on all executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty for all crimes;
• Pending full abolition, amend Saudi legislation to remove death penalty provisions that breach international standards, including its use for drug-related offences and vaguely defined “terrorist acts”;
• Commute the sentences of all those on death row, including child offenders and those convicted of non-lethal offences;
• Ensure full transparency in the publication of execution data and allow independent monitoring of death row conditions; and
• Unconditionally release all those sentenced to death or imprisoned for peacefully exercising their fundamental rights.

We also urge the UN Human Rights Council and relevant UN special procedures to monitor and publicly report on Saudi Arabia’s increasing resort to executions, and call on the kingdom’s international partners to speak out and press for a moratorium pending full abolition of the death penalty.

Signatories: 

1. ACAT Germany (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture)
2. African Academy of Diplomacy (AAD)
3. ALQST for Human Rights
4. Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
5. Amnesty International
6. Coalition of Somali Human Rights Defenders (CSHRD)
7. Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Bar)
8. Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide (CCDPW)
9. Death Penalty Focus
10. ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty)
11. Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF)
12. Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)
13. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
14. European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR)
15. FairSquare
16. Femena
17. German Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (GCADP)
18. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
19. Harm Reduction International (HRI)
20. Horn Afrik News Agency for Human Rights (HANAHR)
21. Human Rights and Democracy Media Center (SHAMS)
22. Humanity Diaspo
23. International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
24. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
25. Juvenile Justice and Child Rights Committee of Lahore Bar Association (2021–2026)
26. Kenya Human Rights Commission
27. Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC)
28. Legal Awareness Watch Pakistan (LAW)
29. Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat (Community Legal Aid Institute)
30. MENA Rights Group
31. Organization Against Torture in Tunisia (OCTT)
32. Reprieve
33. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR)
34. The Inclusion Project Nigeria (TIP)
35. The UIA Institute for the Rule of Law (UIA-IROL)
36. Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)