Overview
- The 356 executions marked a second straight annual high, up from 338 recorded in 2024.
- Official data attributed 243 of the 2025 deaths to drug offenses after the end of a three‑year pause on such executions.
- Analysts say the increase reflects an intensified anti‑drug campaign, with earlier arrests now reaching final convictions.
- Rights groups, including Reprieve, denounced 2025 as the kingdom’s bloodiest year and cited coerced confessions and non‑lethal drug cases, noting many of the executed were foreign nationals.
- Saudi officials contend death sentences are lawful tools for public safety, as security forces expand checkpoints and seize millions of Captagon pills.