US EditionSaudi Sets New Death Penalty Record After Executing 340 in 2025: AFP Tally
Saudi Arabia executed 232 people for drug-related offenses and others for terrorism amid allegations of flawed trials and executions of minors, setting a new record in 2025.
- This year, Saudi Arabia has executed 340 people, AFP's tally shows, after three were put to death on Monday in Mecca.
- Analysts say the surge stems from a 2023 'war on drugs' and the end of 2022 resumption of drug-case executions, with drug-related cases making up most of this year's 340 executions.
- Rights monitors report that executions have included minors and foreign nationals, with `These are not violent criminals, and most are foreign nationals. Executing them is against international law` said Harriet McCulloch.
- Rights groups note the toll marks the second-straight year Saudi Arabia has broken its own execution record, while Saudi authorities argue the death penalty maintains public order and follows the appeal process, with the interior ministry confirming three executions in Mecca.
- In recent years, Saudi Arabia has trailed only China and Iran in executions, with Amnesty International documenting a long-term trend since 1990 despite unclear earlier figures.
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Saudi Arabia sets new death penalty record, executes 340 people in 2025: AFP
Saudi Arabia has executed 340 individuals in 2025, surpassing its own previous record. The majority of these executions are drug-related, raising questions about human rights and the kingdom's reform image amid its ongoing war on drugs.
In Saudi Arabia, 340 people have already been executed since the beginning of the year. By 2024 they were 338, according to a count based on official announcements relayed by franceinfo. According to the NGO Amnesty International, which has accounted for executions in the monarchy for 35 years, the kingdom was the country that executed the most prisoners in the world in 2024, after China and Iran. Saudi authorities have increased the use of the …
Saudi Arabia has executed 340 people this year, a new record.
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