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Saudi Arabia sets new death penalty record, executes 340 people in 2025
Saudi Arabia sets new death penalty record, executes 340 people in 2025: AFP
Saudi Arabia has broken its own record for executions carried out in a single year, according to a latest Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally. The tally comes after Kingdom authorities said three people were put to death on Monday, 15 December.
The kingdom has killed 340 people so far this year, according to the AFP's count. The Kingdom had in recent years trailed only China and Iran among countries carrying out the death penalty.
The toll marks the second-straight year Saudi Arabia has broken its own record since rights groups first began documenting the number of executions in the 1990s.
In 2024, as many as 338 people were executed in Saudi Arabia.
A statement by the interior ministry carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said three individuals were executed in the Mecca region for murder convictions.
Since the start of 2025, Saudi Arabia has executed 232 people in drug-related cases, constituting the majority of the 340 executions carried out so far, according to AFP's tally, based on ministry and SPA announcements.
‘Most executions for drug offences'
Analysts largely link the surge in executions to the kingdom's ongoing "war on drugs" launched in 2023, with many of those first arrested only now being executed, following legal proceedings and convictions.Saudi Arabia resumed executions for drug offences at the end of 2022, after suspending the use of the death penalty in narcotics cases for around three years.
The Arab world's largest economy is also one of the biggest markets for captagon, an illicit stimulant that was Syria's largest export under Bashar al-Assad - according to the United Nations. Assad was ousted last year.
Since launching its war on drugs, the country has increased the presence of police checkpoints on highways and at border crossings, where millions of pills have been confiscated and dozens of traffickers arrested.
The kingdom also faces sustained criticism over its use of the death penalty, which rights groups have condemned as excessive and in marked contrast to the country's efforts to present a modern image to the world.
"These are not violent criminals, and most are foreign nationals. Executing them is against international law mandating that the death penalty only be used for intentional homicide," said Harriet McCulloch of the Reprieve rights group.
Activists say the kingdom's continued embrace of capital punishment undermines the image of a more open, tolerant society that is central to de-facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Vision's 2030 reform agenda.
Saudi Arabia is spending big on tourist infrastructure and top sports events such as the 2034 World Cup as it tries to diversify its oil-reliant economy.
Authorities in the kingdom, however, argue the death penalty is necessary to maintain public order and is only used after all avenues for appeal have been exhausted.
Saudi Arabia remained the third-highest executor of death sentences worldwide in 2022, 2023, and 2024-after China and Iran-according to Amnesty International.
(With AFP inputs)
Source: LiveMint
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