Egyptian national, Mohamed Kamel, executed in Saudi Arabia
Name(s):
Mohamed Kamel Salah Kamel
Status:
Executed
Year of birth:
1988
Profession:
Carpenter
Nationality:
Egyptian
Date of arrest:
Mohamed Kamel Salah Kamel, is an Egyptian national who lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and worked as a carpenter. On April 5, 2014, Kamel was arrested at a hotel, and narcotic pills were found with him. He was abducted and placed in Duba Police Station, later transferred to Tabuk General Prison, and sentenced to death by the Criminal Court of Tabuk. He was executed on June 25, 2025.
Mohamed Kamel Salah Kamel is an Egyptian national who was working as a carpenter and living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
On April 5, 2014 Kamel was apprehended and abducted by individuals in civilian clothing at a hotel in the city of Duba. Immediately upon arrest, he was placed in the Duba Police Station and later transferred to Tabuk General Prison. Upon his arrest, he was found with a quantity of narcotics. Kamel claims that he was unaware of these pills and that he was instructed by an individual in Egypt to receive bags of clothing and transport them to Jeddah.
He was charged by the Public Prosecution Office with the import and receipt of narcotics. On August 10, 2017, Kamel was sentenced to the death penalty by the Criminal Court of first instance in Tabuk under article 37 (1) of the Anti-Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law. The sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court at an unknown date.
Throughout Kamel’s detention in both facilities, he was subjected to acts of torture and beatings with the aim of forcing him to sign confessions regarding his involvement with drugs. The torture he endured resulted in him developing diabetes. He was also prevented from communicating with his family from the arrest until the beginning of his trial before the Criminal Court in Tabuk.
On April 25, 2025, MENA Rights Group and partners submitted a Request for Opinion to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN WGAD).
On June, 2025, Kamel was executed in Tabuk.
On November 24, 2025, the UN WGAD issued its Opinion No. 71/2025, where it determined that Kamel had been arbitrarily deprived of his liberty without legal basis and in violation of his rights to a fair trial and to non-discrimination. Furthermore, the UN WGAD found that imposing the death penalty for non-violent drug offences is disproportionate and incompatible with the principles of legality and proportionality governing criminal offences and penalties. It stated that the death penalty may only be imposed for the “most serious crimes”, a threshold that has consistently been interpreted as limited to crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing. Accordingly, the Working Group concluded that Kamel’s execution constituted an arbitrary deprivation of life in violation of article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
| Name(s): |
Mohamed Kamel Salah Kamel
|
| Status: |
Executed
|
| Year of birth: |
1988
|
| Profession: |
Carpenter
|
| Nationality: |
Egyptian
|
| Date of arrest: |
|
Mohamed Kamel Salah Kamel is an Egyptian national who was working as a carpenter and living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
On April 5, 2014 Kamel was apprehended and abducted by individuals in civilian clothing at a hotel in the city of Duba. Immediately upon arrest, he was placed in the Duba Police Station and later transferred to Tabuk General Prison. Upon his arrest, he was found with a quantity of narcotics. Kamel claims that he was unaware of these pills and that he was instructed by an individual in Egypt to receive bags of clothing and transport them to Jeddah.
He was charged by the Public Prosecution Office with the import and receipt of narcotics. On August 10, 2017, Kamel was sentenced to the death penalty by the Criminal Court of first instance in Tabuk under article 37 (1) of the Anti-Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law. The sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court at an unknown date.
Throughout Kamel’s detention in both facilities, he was subjected to acts of torture and beatings with the aim of forcing him to sign confessions regarding his involvement with drugs. The torture he endured resulted in him developing diabetes. He was also prevented from communicating with his family from the arrest until the beginning of his trial before the Criminal Court in Tabuk.
On April 25, 2025, MENA Rights Group and partners submitted a Request for Opinion to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN WGAD).
On June, 2025, Kamel was executed in Tabuk.
On November 24, 2025, the UN WGAD issued its Opinion No. 71/2025, where it determined that Kamel had been arbitrarily deprived of his liberty without legal basis and in violation of his rights to a fair trial and to non-discrimination. Furthermore, the UN WGAD found that imposing the death penalty for non-violent drug offences is disproportionate and incompatible with the principles of legality and proportionality governing criminal offences and penalties. It stated that the death penalty may only be imposed for the “most serious crimes”, a threshold that has consistently been interpreted as limited to crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing. Accordingly, the Working Group concluded that Kamel’s execution constituted an arbitrary deprivation of life in violation of article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
