Saudi Arabia carried out 330 executions in 2024, marking the highest annual total in decades, despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 2022 pledge to limit capital punishment to murder cases under his Vision 2030 reform plan.
The latest figures, compiled by human rights group Reprieve and verified by Reuters, reveal a sharp rise from 172 executions in 2023 and 196 in 2022. Reprieve described the 2024 tally as the highest ever recorded in the kingdom. Among those executed, more than 150 were convicted for non-lethal crimes, a move rights groups claim violates international law.
Many of the non-lethal cases involved drug smuggling, particularly amphetamine-like captagon, which has flooded the region, allegedly originating from Syria. Others were tied to charges of non-lethal terrorism, which human rights organizations argue are often used to silence anti-government protesters. Over 100 of the executed individuals were foreign nationals from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Despite these figures, the Saudi government has not responded to detailed questions about the executions. The kingdom maintains that its actions are aimed at ensuring national security, rejecting accusations of human rights violations.
Saudi Arabia has faced ongoing criticism for its judicial practices, including allegations of sentencing minors to death and using torture to extract confessions. Relatives of those on death row report difficulties navigating the legal system, often with no access to evidence or legal representation.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who rose to power in 2017 and has faced scrutiny over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, told The Atlantic in 2022 that the kingdom had curtailed the use of the death penalty, except in murder cases. However, this year’s record-breaking execution numbers challenge those assertions, casting a shadow over the crown prince’s Vision 2030 initiative to rebrand Saudi Arabia as a modern, progressive state.
Rights groups and international observers continue to call for greater transparency and reform in Saudi Arabia’s judicial system, urging the kingdom to align its practices with international human rights standards.
