{"id":4498,"date":"2025-10-13T10:09:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T10:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egyptianforum.org\/?p=4498"},"modified":"2025-10-13T10:09:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T10:09:56","slug":"saudi-arabia-unprecedented-rise-in-executions-with-foreigners-among-the-victims-including-16-egyptians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egyptianforum.org\/en\/saudi-arabia-unprecedented-rise-in-executions-with-foreigners-among-the-victims-including-16-egyptians\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia: unprecedented rise in executions with foreigners among the victims including 16 Egyptians"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this World Day Against the Death Penalty, we, the undersigned organisations, express our horror at the alarming surge in executions in Saudi Arabia. In recent years, these have included numerous foreign nationals convicted of drug-related offences, Saudi citizens sentenced for peaceful dissent, and a young man executed for an offence allegedly committed while he was still a child \u2013 all in clear violation of international human rights law. According to data from the official Saudi Press Agency, the authorities have executed at least 292 people so far in 2025, including four women. They are on course to exceed last year\u2019s record number of 345 executions, in contradiction of their own <\/span>commitments to limit the use of the death penalty<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the 292 individuals publicly reported as having been executed so far this year (as of 9 October), 195 were executed for drug-related crimes, 151 of whom were foreign nationals from Asian and African countries including Somalia (38), Ethiopia (30), Pakistan (23), Egypt (16) and Afghanistan (12). This follows the reversal of a previously announced moratorium on executions for such offences that remained in place for 33 months between February 2020 and November 2022, and raises fears for the lives of hundreds of other prisoners threatened with imminent execution for non-lethal drug-related offences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such executions are in clear violation of international human rights law, which prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes that do not meet the \u201cmost serious crimes\u201d threshold, which refers to intentional killing. Furthermore, rights groups have confirmed, from court documents and testimonies, a <\/span>pattern of abuses<\/span><\/a> suffered by foreign nationals in the course of their arrest, detention and trial. These include lack of access to consular support, legal representation, adequate interpretation and court documents, and hence the inability to mount a proper legal defence or appeal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Further, 34 men have been executed in 2025 for \u201cterrorism\u201d-related offences, which, according to the vague and overly broad definition of terrorism in Saudi law, can include a wide range of non-lethal acts. In one such case, the sudden <\/span>execution<\/span><\/a> of Saudi journalist <\/span>Turki al-Jasser<\/b> on 14 June, after seven years of enforced disappearance, dramatically illustrated how the Saudi authorities weaponise the use of the death penalty as a tool to repress freedom of expression in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, Islamic scholars <\/span>Salman al-Odah<\/b> and <\/span>Hassan Farhan al-Maliki<\/b>, for whom the Public Prosecutor has called for the death penalty on a range of vaguely formulated charges, continue to have their trials drag on for unknown reasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Saudi authorities are also failing to deliver on what have proved to be false promises in relation to the use of the death penalty for juveniles. International human rights law prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed by people when they were children; however, the <\/span>execution<\/span><\/a> on 21 August 2025 of Saudi youth <\/span>Jalal Labbad<\/b>, convicted of crimes allegedly committed when he was under 18 years of age, invalidates the authorities\u2019 <\/span>claim<\/span><\/a> to have ended this practice. Labbad, born 3 April 1995, was arrested for participating in 2011-2012 protests against the treatment of Saudi Arabia\u2019s marginalised Shia community and attending funeral processions for those killed by security forces. His sentencing followed a grossly unfair trial that failed to meet basic standards of due process and relied almost exclusively on confessions extracted under torture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Labbad\u2019s execution raises grave fears for other child defendants at <\/span>imminent risk of execution<\/span><\/a>, including <\/span>Abdullah al-Derazi<\/b>, whose death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court and is now pending the king\u2019s ratification for implementation. Four others, <\/span>Youssef al-Manasef<\/b>, <\/span>Ali Hassan al-Subaiti<\/b>, <\/span>Jawad Qureiris<\/b> and <\/span>Hassan al-Faraj<\/b>, recently had their death sentences upheld by the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has for years been among the countries carrying out the highest number of executions in the world, with 345 executions carried out in 2024, the highest annual figure <\/span>reported<\/span> since 1990. In the absence of transparency, and with executions sometimes carried out in secret, the real figures may be even higher. Families are often not notified in advance of executions, and there is no publicly accessible record of those executed, which further undermines transparency and accountability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet while continuing to carry out these egregious human rights abuses, the Saudi authorities are at the same time striving to rebrand the kingdom on the international stage as modern and progressive, and to dazzle with megaprojects such as Neom, massive investments in global sports, including the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and the hosting of glitzy entertainment like this autumn\u2019s incongruous Riyadh Comedy Festival. The international community should remain focused on the reality on the ground, including the past two years\u2019 spike in executions and the ongoing systematic crackdown on free speech.<\/span><\/p>\n

On this World Day Against the Death Penalty, we call on the Saudi authorities to:<\/span><\/p>\n