Saudi Arabia Records Highest Number of Executions in 2025, Driven by Drug-Related Cases
In 2025, Saudi Arabia executed 356 people, marking a new annual record. This figure surpasses the 338 executions recorded in 2024, making it the second consecutive year of a record-high number of executions. Officials attribute this rise largely to Riyadh’s intensified war on drugs, with 243 of the 2025 executions related to drug offenses according to official data compiled by AFP.
Saudi Arabia resumed executions for drug offenses at the end of 2022, following an approximately three-year suspension. Many of those executed in drug-related cases have been foreigners. Authorities maintain that the death penalty is necessary to uphold public order and is only applied after all legal appeals are exhausted. However, rights groups have criticized the practice as excessive.
The crackdown on drugs has involved increased highway and border checkpoints as well as large seizures of pills, with fenethylline (commonly known as Captagon) identified as a major illicit stimulant in the region. Amnesty International has been documenting executions in Saudi Arabia since 1990, though data prior to that year remain unclear.
