Saudi sets new death penalty record after executing 340 in 2025: AFP tally

Workers take down a giant Saudi flag, that measures 49.5 metres by 33 metres for weekly maintenance, from what is believed to be the tallest flagpole in the world and one of Jiddah's landmarks, at King Abdullah Square, in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. An Islamic creed reads, "there is no deity except God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God." (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Saudi Arabia has broken its own record for executions carried out in a single year, according to an AFP tally, after authorities said three people were put to death Monday.

The kingdom has killed 340 people so far this year, according to AFP’s count, and has in recent years trailed only China and Iran among countries carrying out the death penalty.

The toll marks the second-straight year Saudi Arabia has broken its own record since rights groups first began documenting the number of executions in the 1990s.

It executed 338 people in 2024.

A statement by the interior ministry carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said three individuals were executed in the Mecca region for murder convictions.

Since the start of 2025, Saudi Arabia has executed 232 people in drug-related cases, constituting the majority of the 340 executions carried out so far, according to AFP’s tally, based on ministry and SPA announcements.

Analysts largely link the surge in executions to the kingdom’s ongoing “war on drugs” launched in 2023, with many of those first arrested only now being executed, following legal proceedings and convictions.

Saudi Arabia resumed executions for drug offences at the end of 2022, after suspending the use of the death penalty in narcotics cases for around three years.

The Arab world’s largest economy is also one of the biggest markets for captagon, an illicit stimulant that was Syria’s largest export under Bashar al-Assad -- according to the United Nations. Assad was ousted last year.

War on drugs

Since launching its war on drugs, the country has increased the presence of police checkpoints on highways and at border crossings, where millions of pills have been confiscated and dozens of traffickers arrested.

Foreigners are largely bearing the brunt of the campaign to date.

Saudi Arabia has long relied on millions of foreign workers to help build its vast infrastructure projects, to serve as domestic help for families and to staff hotels and the hospitality industry.

The kingdom also faces sustained criticism over its use of the death penalty, which rights groups have condemned as excessive and in marked contrast to the country’s efforts to present a modern image to the world.

“These are not violent criminals, and most are foreign nationals. Executing them is against international law mandating that the death penalty only be used for intentional homicide,” said Harriet McCulloch of the Reprieve rights group.

Activists say the kingdom’s continued embrace of capital punishment undermines the image of a more open, tolerant society that is central to de-facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Vision’s 2030 reform agenda.

Saudi Arabia is spending big on tourist infrastructure and top sports events such as the 2034 World Cup as it tries to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

Authorities in the kingdom, however, argue the death penalty is necessary to maintain public order and is only used after all avenues for appeal have been exhausted.

Amnesty International began documenting executions in Saudi Arabia in 1990. Figures dating from before then are largely unclear.

Saudi Arabia remained the third-highest executor of death sentences worldwide in 2022, 2023, and 2024—after China and Iran—according to Amnesty International.