Saudi Arabia executes eight in a day amid death penalty “crisis”

Eight people were executed in a single day in Saudi Arabia, mostly on drug-related charges, forming part of what has been described as an “unprecedented execution crisis,” according to Middle East Eye via AFP on August 12th.

Four Somalis and three Ethiopians were put to death in the southern region of Najran for “smuggling hashish into the kingdom,” according to the Saudi Press Agency, while one Saudi national was executed for murdering his mother.

These executions are part of what rights groups describe as an “unprecedented execution crisis,” which disproportionately targets foreign nationals. The UK-based organisation Reprieve and the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) note that the surge began after Saudi authorities removed an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment for drug offences in 2021.

Last year, a record 345 people were executed, nearly half for non-deadly crimes. The pace has accelerated in 2025, with 230 executions occurring so far, with 154 of them being for drug-related charges, an AFP tally shows. In June alone, 46 people were executed – 37 for drug offences – averaging more than one drug-related execution per day.

“We are witnessing a truly horrifying trend, with foreign nationals being put to death at a startling rate for crimes that should never carry the death penalty,” said Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, in a July 7th report.

Indeed, foreign nationals are especially vulnerable: between 2010 and 2021, Saudi Arabia executed almost three times as many foreigners for drug offences as Saudi citizens, despite foreigners making up only 36% of the population.

“In the failed global war on drugs we see the same pattern repeating itself — authorities respond to concerns about drug use by killing poor and marginalised groups,” said Jeed Basyouni, head of MENA death penalty projects at Reprieve. “To make matters worse, they rarely receive basic due process rights such as legal representation or interpreters during their trials.”

Middle East Eye via AFP, Saudi Press Agency, Reprieve, Maghrebi.org, Amnesty International