'Frightening milestone': Saudi Arabia hits 2,000 executions since King Salman took power

'Frightening milestone': Saudi Arabia hits 2,000 executions since King Salman took power Submitted by Rayhan Uddin on Wed, 04/15/2026 - 14:59 Gulf kingdom's use of death penalty increases fivefold, despite crown prince's promises of reform and modernisation This handout picture provided by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) shows Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the Salam Royal Palace in Jeddah on 21 April 2023 (AFP/SPA) Off Saudi Arabia has carried out 2,000 executions since King Salman came to power 11 years ago, in what campaigners have described as a "frightening milestone".  In the five years before King Salman took charge in 2015, Saudi Arabia executed an average of 71 people annually.  That rate has now increased fivefold. At least 356 people were executed in 2025, and 345 the year prior.  The 2,000 mark was reached last week, according to rights group Reprieve.  "Mohammed bin Salman uses the death penalty as a tool of political control," Jeed Basyouni of Reprieve told Middle East Eye, referring to the crown prince who has been de facto ruler since 2017.  "The skyrocketing of executions over the past two years demonstrates Saudi Arabia's pattern of utilising periods of international crisis as cover for human rights violations." Of the executions last year, a majority (232) were for drug-related cases. Several others were executed over terrorism charges, some of which were vague under Saudi Arabia’s broad definition of the term. Many of these executions may be in violation of international law, which only allows for the use of the death penalty in relation to the "most serious crimes" involving intentional killings. At the end of 2022, the kingdom resumed the use of the death penalty in drug-related cases after suspending it for about three years.  'Regressive human rights trajectory' Last week, two Shia citizens from Saudi Arabia’s eastern province were executed after being convicted of terror offences.  A week prior to that, Saud al-Faraj, a Saudi businessman, was executed over his participation in anti-government protests in 2011.  Faraj, 42, was convicted in 2022 of participating in demonstrations in Qatif – a Shia-majority governorate in the east of the kingdom – as well as running a terrorist cell and killing police officers. Faraj had long denied the charges against him, saying that he was tortured into a confession, which saw him moved in a wheelchair in and out of the prison hospital between interrogation sessions. He was also held in solitary confinement for 21 months. He was one of hundreds of Saudis who took part in demonstrations in 2011 during the Arab Spring protests, calling for greater democracy and reforms in the kingdom. "This sombre milestone lays bare the Saudi authorities’ persistent and regressive human rights trajectory over the past decade," Julia Legner, executive director of rights group Alqst, told MEE.  'Despite the crown prince's repeated promises to curb the use of the death penalty, the reality has only worsened, both in scale and scope'  - Julia Legner, Alqst "Despite the crown prince’s repeated promises to curb the use of the death penalty, the reality has only worsened, both in scale and scope, with ever more red lines being crossed, from the execution of journalists to that of child defendants." In recent months, Saudi Arabia has executed men who were minors at the time of the crimes they had allegedly committed, in violation of international law.  Imposing the death penalty on individuals who were under 18 at the time of the crime is prohibited under international human rights law, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Saudi Arabia is a signatory to.  In 2020, amid global scrutiny, Saudi authorities vowed to end judges’ discretion to impose the death penalty on child convicts. The kingdom’s human rights commission said a royal order had been issued to stop the death penalty for juvenile convicts.  However, several executions of people who committed crimes as minors have occurred since that statement. A large number of those being executed in recent years are foreign nationals, too. "The distance between MBS’s public narrative of reform and modernisation, and the reality of death sentences meted out to child defendants, vulnerable migrants and political protesters, is wider than ever," said Basyouni. "Two thousand executions, including at least 17 child defendants, is a frightening milestone, and this number will continue to rise while the world looks away." Saudi Human Rights News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0