Saudi executions double in 2024 as more women and foreigners put to death

Last year saw a massive rise in the number of executions in Saudi Arabia, doubling year on year, according to a new report by a Saudi rights group.

The Berlin-based European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) tracked the executions of 345 people in 2024, up from 172 in 2023. It said that this equates to one execution every 25 hours.

The rights group also reported a sharp increase in executions related to drug charges, and a record-breaking rise in the executions of foreign nationals and women.

But the figures are cloaked in secrecy, and ESOHR believes the true number is likely to be much higher.

According to the report, 2024 saw a surge in Taazir rulings – discretionary punishments that are not defined by sharia – and an increasing failure by the interior ministry to disclose charges for executions. 

In 2024, Taazir sentences accounted for 40 percent of total executions, up from 36.49 percent the previous year.

“The rise in discretionary death sentences confirms that Saudi Arabia will not adhere to the promises made in recent years regarding reducing death penalties for crimes that do not have clear sharia provisions. It also indicates a broader expansion of punishments beyond what is prescribed by sharia law,” Duaa Dhainy, senior researcher at ESOHR, told Middle East Eye.

The report also found that the interior ministry failed to disclose the charges related to 39 executions. 

Josh Cooper, deputy director of rights group Alqst, said last year’s figures “are more opaque than ever”.

“It’s always been very opaque, but this year there’s an additional veil of opacity with the sentence not specifically mentioned,” Cooper told MEE.

Soaring executions of women and foreigners

According to ESOHR, 2024 marked the highest number of executions of women, with nine women executed compared to six the year before.

Most of the women were foreign, including four Nigerians, all of whom were executed for drug-related offences.

Executions of foreign nationals also soared, with 138 killed, up from 38 in 2023.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia ended a three-year moratorium on the execution of drug offenders, accelerating executions for drug-related offences.

According to ESOHR, the kingdom executed 122 individuals convicted of drug-related offences in 2024, up from just two the previous year.

Resuming executions for drug offences appears to have prompted the spike in killings of foreigners and women. “Lots of the drug charges are for hashish smuggling and on the softer end of the spectrum,” Cooper said.

According to ESOHR, previously women were only executed for murder, with the first drug-related execution of a woman carried out in 2019. 

Thirty of the 122 people sentenced to death over drug offences were foreign nationals. 

According to Dhainy, the rise in executions of foreigners was prompted by Saudi authorities’ efforts to clear its overcrowded prisons, which are overwhelmingly populated by people from abroad.

Rehabilitation of MBS

For Cooper, the failure of international governments to condemn the kingdom’s human rights abuses has emboldened Riyadh to escalate executions.

“The only logical explanation is the wider context of the increasing rehabilitation of Saudi Arabia’s leaders and Mohammed bin Salman over the past couple of years”, he said.

In 2022, US President Joe Biden, previously a vocal critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s government, visited the kingdom seeking to bolster Washington’s ties with Riyadh.

In June, French President Emmanuel Macron drew fire from rights groups for hosting Mohammed bin Salman and ignoring calls to raise the issue of several young men facing execution.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Riyadh in December, defending his trip as an attempt to boost investment in the UK. 

In a statement Downing Street said that economic growth was Starmer’s “number one priority”, adding that “no aspect of the relationships that we’re building internationally … stops us from raising issues around human rights and protecting our values globally”.

“With any execution, responsibility lies first and foremost with Saudi Arabia’s leaders, and it’s of course the king who signs off any execution and so could put an end to them,” Cooper said.

“But responsibility also lies with global leaders and those who have rehabilitated Saudi leaders – and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in particular in recent years – and let human rights drop down the pecking order. And this obviously comes in the context of the kind of global culture of impunity we’re seeing.”