Saudi Arabia sets execution record in 2025, putting 356 people to death

Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, according to an AFP tally, setting a new record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year.

Analysts have largely attributed the surge in executions to Riyadh’s ongoing “war on drugs” launched in recent years — with many of those first arrested only now being executed, following legal proceedings and convictions.

Official data released by the government says 243 people were executed in drug-related cases in 2025 alone, according to AFP’s tally.

The figures from 2025 mark the second consecutive year Saudi Arabia has set a new record for executions, after authorities executed 338 people in 2024.

Duaa Dhainy, a researcher at the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, tells AFP the record-breaking numbers are “proof that promises regarding human rights reforms in Saudi Arabia have no value.”

She adds that the executions served as a message of “intimidation and fear for everyone,” including “migrant workers, minors and political opponents.”

The Berlin-based organization confirms that Saudi Arabia executed 356 people in 2025, highlighting that it is the first time more foreigners were executed than Saudis in a calendar year.

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

Since launching its war on drugs, the country has increased 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.

The Gulf kingdom has faced 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.