In 2024, Saudi Arabia has executed over 100 foreign nationals, setting a new record for the country. This significant increase in executions has drawn attention, especially since it nearly triples the number of foreign executions in the past two years.

The most recent execution occurred on November 16 in the southwestern region of Najran, where a Yemeni man was put to death for smuggling drugs into the country. This brings the total number of foreign executions in 2024 to 101, according to reports from state media.

This is a dramatic rise from previous years, as Saudi Arabia executed 34 foreign nationals each in both 2023 and 2022. Human rights groups, including the European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR), have noted that this is the largest number of foreign executions in the country’s history. Taha al-Hajji, the group’s legal director, emphasized that Saudi Arabia had never before executed over 100 foreigners in a single year.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia was ranked as the third-highest country in the world for executions, after China and Iran. In fact, the kingdom’s total number of executions surpassed 270 in 2024, with many of these being related to drug offenses.

A large number of those executed this year were convicted of smuggling or trafficking drugs, especially since Saudi Arabia ended a three-year pause on the death penalty for drug crimes in 2022. As of November 2024, 92 executions for drug-related crimes have taken place, with 69 of them being foreign nationals.

The nationalities of those executed include people from Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, Egypt, Jordan, and several other countries. Foreign nationals, according to activists, often face higher risks of unfair trials in Saudi Arabia, with limited access to key legal documents and vulnerable treatment throughout the legal process.

Human rights organizations continue to criticize the system, pointing out that foreign nationals are often victims of large drug networks and face multiple legal violations from arrest to execution. The continued rise in executions raises serious concerns over the treatment of foreign defendants and the fairness of the justice system in Saudi Arabia.

With the number of foreign executions continuing to rise, the global community watches closely, calling for reform in the country’s legal practices, especially concerning the death penalty.