Saudi Arabia Sees Record Spike in Executions in 2025.

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Saudi Arabia has witnessed a record-breaking rise in executions in 2025, with at least 241 people executed by August 5. Twenty-two executions were carried out in just the final week of July. If this pace continues, the country is set to break all historical records. Human rights organizations argue that this wave of executions often lacks basic procedural fairness and is increasingly being used to punish peaceful dissenters and political opponents.

Among those executed this year was Turki al-Jasser, a well-known Saudi journalist and blogger, arrested in 2018 and executed on June 14, 2025. Al-Jasser ran the anonymous X (formerly Twitter) account “Kashkool,” which frequently criticized the Saudi royal family and exposed human rights abuses. He also contributed to Al-Taqreer, an independent newspaper shut down by Saudi authorities in 2015. After his arrest, his online presence disappeared.

According to the Interior Ministry, al-Jasser was executed for several “terrorist crimes,” including “destabilizing the security of society and the stability of the state.” However, no concrete evidence was released. His family was allowed to visit him shortly before his execution but was not informed of a death sentence or that his execution was imminent. His body was never returned to them. Al-Jasser's case is emblematic of a broader trend: Saudi authorities appear to be using capital punishment not just for serious crimes, but as a tool to silence dissent. In February 2024, Abdullah al-Shamri, a political analyst with links to Turkish affairs, was executed following vague accusations of “threatening national security.”

In July 2023, retired teacher Muhammad al-Ghamdi received a death sentence for peacefully expressing his views online. His tweets, retweets, and YouTube activity were used as primary evidence against him. His sentence was later commuted to 30 years in prison. Islamic scholar Salman al-Odah and religious reformist Hassan Farhan al-Maliki are also facing the death penalty for expressing nonviolent political and religious opinions.

In addition to politically motivated executions, a vast number of death sentences have targeted individuals convicted of non-lethal drug-related crimes. As of mid-2025, at least 162 people were executed for drug offenses alone, despite prior Saudi claims that such executions would be curbed. This use of the death penalty violates international human rights standards, which restrict its application to the “most serious crimes.”

Foreign nationals have been disproportionately affected. According to Amnesty International, 75% of those executed for drug offenses between 2014 and 2025 were not Saudi citizens. These individuals often lacked access to legal defense or translation during their trials. In one high-profile case this year, 15 Somali nationals were executed in a single day for alleged hashish-related offenses.

Confessions extracted through torture are often used as the sole basis for conviction. These practices violate both Saudi Arabia’s obligations under the Arab Charter on Human Rights and core principles of the rule of law.

Saudi Arabia had previously promised reform. In March 2022, 81 men were executed in one day, the largest mass execution in recent years. Many were members of the country's long-marginalized Shia minority. Similar mass executions occurred in January 2016 (47 people) and April 2019 (37 men), often following trials marred by procedural violations and forced confessions.

“Behind closed doors, Saudi Arabia is executing peaceful activists and journalists following politicized trials,” said Abdullah Alaoudh, senior director at the Middle East Democracy Center. “These state-sanctioned killings are an assault on basic human rights and dignity that the world cannot afford to ignore.”

Official sources:

• Amnesty International (2025) Saudi Arabia: Escalation in executions of foreign nationals for drug-related offences. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/07/saudi-arabia-escalation-executions-foreign-nationals-drug-related-offences 

• ECDHR (2025) Fifteen Somalis Executed: Saudi Arabia’s Deadly Pattern of Targeting Foreign Nationals. https://www.ecdhr.org/fifteen-somalis-executed-saudi-arabias-deadly-pattern-of-targeting-foreign-nationals 

• Human Rights Watch (2025) Saudi Arabia: Executions Surge in 2025. https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/08/11/saudi-arabia-executions-surge-in-2025 

• OHCHR (2022) UN experts condemn resumption of executions in Saudi Arabia, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/11/un-experts-condemn-resumption-executions-saudi-arabia 

• The Guardian (2025) A Saudi journalist tweeted against the government – and was executed for ‘high treason’. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/18/saudi-arabia-turki-al-jasser-executed

written by Sara Maggetto