{"id":1545944,"date":"2025-07-08T20:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T00:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1545944"},"modified":"2025-07-08T20:20:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T00:20:00","slug":"saudi-arabia-keeps-executing-foreigners-on-drug-charges-at-horrifying-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/saudi-arabia-keeps-executing-foreigners-on-drug-charges-at-horrifying-rate\/1545944\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia Keeps Executing Foreigners On Drug Charges At ‘Horrifying’ Rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia Keeps Executing Foreigners On Drug Charges At ‘Horrifying’ Rate<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Via Middle East Eye<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

There has been a surge in executions in\u00a0Saudi Arabia, particularly in relation to drug offences, a new report\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0by Amnesty International on Monday has revealed.<\/p>\n

The kingdom executed 1,816 people between January 2014 and June 2025, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.\u00a0Of those, nearly one third (597) were for drug-related offences<\/strong>, which may not be punishable by death under international human rights law and norms.\u00a0Around three quarters of those executed for drug offences were foreign nationals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Screen grab from video allegedly showing a public beheading in Saudi Arabia. (YouTube\/tnycman)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“We are witnessing a truly horrifying trend, with foreign nationals being put to death at a startling rate for crimes that should never carry the death penalty,” Amnesty\u2019s Kristine Beckerle said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Executions in Saudi Arabia have risen steadily over the past year and a half.\u00a0In 2024, the kingdom executed 345 people – the highest annual figure that Amnesty has recorded in over three decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far this year, 180 people have been executed. Last month alone, 46 executions were carried out, 37 of which were for drug-related offences<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were made up of nationals from\u00a0Egypt, Ethiopia,\u00a0Jordan, Nigeria,\u00a0Pakistan, Somalia and\u00a0Syria.\u00a0In January 2021, Riyadh had announced a moratorium on drug related-executions, but that was lifted in November the following year.<\/p>\n

‘Cruel, inhuman and degrading’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month, inmates and their relatives\u00a0told Middle East Eye<\/a>\u00a0that executions could take place \u201cany day\u201d.\u00a0The men were all from Ethiopia and Somalia and had been convicted of drug trafficking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have told us to say our goodbyes,\u201d<\/strong> one of the convicted men told MEE. \u201cWe were told that executions would begin shortly after Eid al-Adha (5-9 June), and now they have started.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its report, Amnesty interviewed the families of 13 inmates on death row, as well as community members and consulate officials. It also reviewed court documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Based on the testimonies and evidence, it concluded that limited levels of education and disadvantaged socio-economic status of foreign nationals increased their risk of exploitation and lack of legal representation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family of 27-year-old Khalid Mohammed Ibrahim, who was put on death row on alleged drug trafficking charges, told MEE it had been a harrowing seven years for the family since he was arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tried to enter the country through Yemen,\u201d his older brother Muleta said. \u201cA border guard encouraged him to tell his jailers that he was a drug smuggler, saying it would get him sent to court and quickly cleared since there was no evidence. He believed them.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to drug offences, Amnesty reported on the use of the death penalty against Saudi Arabia\u2019s Shia minority on \u201cterrorism\u201d related charges<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rights group said that despite Shia communities making up around 12 percent of the Saudi population, they accounted for around 42 percent (120 of 286) of terrorism-related executions since 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report added that seven young men currently at risk of execution were under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged offences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Imposing the death penalty on those who were minors at the time of the alleged crime is prohibited under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – a treaty which Saudi Arabia is a state party to.\u00a0\u201cThe death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, it should not be used under any circumstances,\u201d said Beckerle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to immediately establishing a moratorium on executions, pending full abolition of the death penalty, Saudi Arabia\u2019s authorities must amend national laws to remove the death penalty and commute all death sentences.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaudi Arabia\u2019s allies in the international community must exert urgent pressure on the authorities to halt their execution spree and uphold international human rights obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nTue, 07\/08\/2025 – 16:20<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/saudi-arabia-keeps-executing-foreigners-drug-charges-horrifying-rate<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia Keeps Executing Foreigners On Drug Charges At ‘Horrifying’ Rate Via Middle East Eye There has been a surge in executions in\u00a0Saudi Arabia, particularly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1545945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1545944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-6uaA","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/saudi-beheading-C1V37X.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1545944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1545945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1545944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1545944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1545944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}