Overview
- Official figures show 243 of the 2025 executions were tied to drug offences.
- The total set a second straight annual record after 338 in 2024, following the 2022 revival of death sentences in narcotics cases.
- Rights groups say foreigners were executed in greater numbers than Saudis for the first time and many convictions were for non-lethal drug crimes.
- Reprieve alleges torture and forced confessions in the justice system, and the UN says executing people for non-lethal drug offences violates international standards.
- Authorities expanded checkpoints and seized millions of Captagon-style pills during the anti-drug drive, while insisting executions safeguard public order and follow completed appeals.