Saudi Arabia has broken its own record for the number of executions carried out in a single year, according to the latest Agence France-Presse (AFP) count. The record comes after Kingdom authorities said three people were killed on Monday, December 15.
The kingdom has killed 340 people this year, according to an AFP tally. In recent years, the kingdom has fallen behind only China and Iran among countries carrying out the death penalty.
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The toll marks the second year Saudi Arabia has broken its own record since human rights groups first began documenting the number of executions in the 1990s.
In 2024, up to 338 people were executed in Saudi Arabia.
An Interior Ministry statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said three individuals were executed in the Makkah area on convictions for murder.
Since the start of 2025, Saudi Arabia has executed 232 people in drug-related cases, the majority of the 340 executions carried out so far, according to AFP statistics based on ministry and SPA announcements.
“Most executions for drug offenses”
Analysts have largely linked the increase in executions to the ongoing “war on drugs” that began in the kingdom in 2023, with many of those first arrested only now being executed after trials and convictions.
Saudi Arabia has resumed executions for drug offenses in late 2022 after suspending the use of the death penalty in narcotics cases for about three years.
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The Arab world’s biggest economy is also one of the biggest markets for captagon, an illegal stimulant that was Syria’s biggest export under Bashar al-Assad – according to the United Nations. Assad was deposed last year.
Since the start of the war on drugs, the country has increased the presence of police checkpoints on highways and at border crossings, where millions of pills have been seized and dozens of traffickers arrested.
The kingdom has also faced constant criticism for its use of the death penalty, which human rights groups have condemned as disproportionate and at odds with the country’s efforts to present a modern image to the world.
“They are not violent criminals and most of them are foreign nationals. Their execution is against international law, which mandates that the death penalty be used only for intentional killing,” said Harriet McCulloch of the Reprieve Rights Group.
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Activists say the kingdom’s continued adoption of the death penalty undermines the image of a more open, tolerant society that is central to de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform agenda.
Saudi Arabia is spending heavily on tourism infrastructure and major sporting events, such as the 2034 FIFA World Cup, as it seeks to diversify its oil-dependent economy.
But authorities in the kingdom say the death penalty is necessary to maintain public order and is used only after all appeals have been exhausted.
Saudi Arabia remained the third highest executioner in the world in 2022, 2023 and 2024, after China and Iran, according to Amnesty International.
