Riyadh [Saudi Arabia], December 22: Saudi Arabia has surpassed its record for the number of executions carried out annually for a second year in a row.
At least 347 people have now been put to death this year, up from a total of 345 in 2024, according to the UK-based campaign group Reprieve, which tracks executions in Saudi Arabia and has clients on death row.
It said this was the "bloodiest year of executions in the kingdom since monitoring began". The latest prisoners to be executed were two Pakistani nationals convicted of drug-related offences. Others put to death this year include a journalist and two young men who were children at the time of their alleged protest-related crimes. Five were women.
But, according to Reprieve, most - around two thirds - were convicted of non-lethal drug-related offences, which the UN says is "incompatible with international norms and standards". More than half of them were foreign nationals who appear to have been put to death as part of a "war on drugs" in the kingdom.
Source: Qatar Tribune