The latest executions were carried out on Monday, when three Saudi nationals were put to death after being convicted of murdering a Sudanese man, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The ministry identified the men as Ahmed bin Abdullah Al-Shamrani, Bandar bin Musa Al-Qarni, and Mahdi bin Yahya Awaji, all of whom were executed in the Makkah region. Their deaths brought the total number of executions this year to 340, surpassing the previous annual record of 338 executions set in 2024.
Of those executed in 2025, 232 were convicted in drug-related cases, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total. The sharp rise in executions for drug offences has been a major driver of the overall increase, mirroring a similar trend observed last year.
Saudi Arabia ranked as the world’s third-largest executioner in 2022, 2023, and 2024, after China and Iran, according to Amnesty International. The London-based organisation reported that the kingdom executed a record 338 people in 2024, the highest number it has documented since it began tracking executions in Saudi Arabia in 1990.
Human rights organisations and experts link the surge in executions to the Saudi authorities’ intensified “war on drugs,” launched in 2023 to combat the spread of Captagon, a synthetic stimulant widely used in the region. Saudi Arabia is considered one of the largest markets for the drug in the Middle East, according to United Nations data.
The kingdom resumed executions for drug-related offences at the end of 2022, after a suspension that had lasted for nearly three years.
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