The number of executions for drug crimes in Saudi Arabia is reaching staggering numbers. Since the beginning of 2025, at least 111 individuals have been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia, and 68 of these were executed for drug-related crimes. As well as causing concern, these recent developments demonstrate how Saudi Arabia continues to renege on its promise to limit executions for these types of crimes.

As part of his reform programme, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced a moratorium to suspend executions for drug-related crimes in 2020. This reform had a major impact on the number of executions in the country, bringing it down to 85% in the same year. This change had raised hopes that the country would permanently suspend this type of punishment for crimes that are not serious enough to be punished with the death sentence. At the same time, however, this announcement had not been accompanied by a real change in policy, thus making it possible for these executions to begin again at any moment.

In November 2022, Saudi Arabia resumed applying the death penalty for drug offences. This ended a period of almost three years that had raised hopes of a real change of course within the country. In November 2022 alone, 20 people were sentenced to death for drug crimes. These executions added up to a total number of 148 in the same year.

Today, these numbers continue to rise, and there are many people facing the death penalty for this type of crime. Moreover, those most at risk are foreign nationals, for whom greater legal protection is needed. Among the first sentenced in 2022, in fact, only eight were Saudi citizens while the others were foreigners from Syria, Jordan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Much discussed was the case of Hussein Abo al-Kheir, who had been in prison since 2014, accused of transporting drugs while crossing the border into Jordan. During the time before his trial, Hussein had been tortured and forced to sign a false confession. However, his death sentence for the drug crime did not come until 2022, when he was taken to a ‘death cell’ on 18 November. Finally, he was executed in March 2023.

There are many other cases of foreigners who have suffered the same fate. One example is Essam Shazly Ahmed Mohamed, an Egyptian fisherman arrested in 2022 on the Saudi maritime border. The accusation against him was that he was trying to smuggle a large quantity of narcotics. After his arrest, he was sentenced to death by the Tabuk Criminal Court, but the date of his execution is still unknown.

There are also examples of people arrested long ago on similar charges but still awaiting their execution date. Mohamed Kamel Salah Kamel is among them. Also an Egyptian citizen, he was arrested in 2014 in a hotel in the city of Duba. Mohamed was allegedly found with a quantity of drugs and was immediately taken to Tabuk General Prison. In 2017, he was sentenced to death for drug-related offences, but to this day remains on death row without knowing when his sentence will be carried out.

These incidents demonstrate not only an unfavourable situation for all foreigners arrested in Saudi Arabia, but also how the promises made by the government should be taken with caution. The moratorium that halted executions for drug crimes in 2020 was merely a strategy by the Saudi government to demonstrate progress that, in reality, does not exist. This is not exclusively limited to this field but could be extended to others as well. Just think of the many reforms for women’s rights that the Saudi government has highly publicised, which, in the end, have not changed much.

Saudi Arabia continues to want to show itself as a country in the process of renewal and to promise reforms that are not really reflected in reality. The continuous promises made by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to decrease the use of the death penalty for drug crimes have yet to be implemented in practice, and the numbers continue to rise. This is why Saudi Arabia must re-adopt the 2020 moratorium. This time, however, it must be accompanied by concrete and tangible reforms. This is the only way to end executions for these non-serious crimes.

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