Saudi Arabia executes seven people in a day

The Saudi Arabia flag flies over the consulate in Istanbul, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Warning: Graphic content

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Saudi authorities executed seven people who had been convicted of drug trafficking in a single day, state media said Sunday.

The Saudi Press Agency said five Saudis and two Jordanians were found guilty of trafficking amphetamine pills into the kingdom.

“The death penalty was carried out as a discretionary punishment against the perpetrators,” the agency reported, adding that the executions took place on Sunday in the Riyadh region.

Since the beginning of 2026, Riyadh has executed 38 people in drug-related cases, the majority of the 61 executions carried out, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Foreign nationals make up the majority of those executed this year, totaling 33 people.

In 2025, executions in the kingdom reached a record level for the second consecutive year, with authorities executing 356 people, including 243 in drug-related cases.

The number of executions in 2025 marked the highest in a single year since Amnesty International began documenting death penalty cases in the Gulf kingdom in 1990.

The previous record, 338, was recorded in 2024.

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

The Arab world’s largest economy is also one of the biggest markets for captagon, an illicit stimulant that was Syria’s largest export under deposed leader Bashar al-Assad -- according to the United Nations.

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.

Activists say Riyadh’s continued embrace of capital punishment undermines the image of a more open, tolerant society that is central to de-facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s social and economic reform agenda.

AFP