We, the undersigned organisations, are gravely fearful for the lives of hundreds of prisoners threatened with imminent execution in Saudi Arabia for non-lethal drug-related offences, including scores of Egyptian, Ethiopian and Somali nationals. These men are living in a state of terror amid a dramatic surge in executions for such offences in recent months. According to data from the Saudi Press Agency, 98 men have already been executed for drug-related offences in 2025.

At least 37 Ethiopian and 27 Somali nationals, all men, are on death row in Najran Prison, southwestern Saudi Arabia, for drug-related crimes. 19 Somali and seven Ethiopian nationals have been publicly reported as having been executed this year, all for “smuggling hashish”. 12 Somali nationals have been executed in June so far alone, and three Ethiopian nationals on 16 June; the remaining men live in fear that they could be executed at any point. Hundreds more are believed to be held in the same prison awaiting sentencing, many of them having been detained for years.

Similarly, at least 26 Egyptian nationals, all men, are on death row in Tabuk Prison, northwestern Saudi Arabia, for drug-related crimes. At least three Egyptians have been executed on such charges this year, including Mahmoud Mohamed Khamis and Farhat Abu al-Saud, who were executed on 24 and 25 May respectively. Other inmates were informed that they would be executed following Eid al-Adha, which ended on 10 June. On that date, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions called on the Saudi authorities to immediately halt the executions and abolish the death penalty for drug-related offences. In his statement he said “violations of fair trial guarantees leading to the imposition of the death penalty render such sentences arbitrary and unlawful”.

Some of the Egyptian, Ethiopian and Somali nationals currently on death row for drug-related offences are reported to be likely victims of human trafficking, coerced or deceived into transporting illicit substances under threat or false pretences. However, most of them were not given the chance to plead their innocence in court.

Although there is no transparency in Saudi Arabia’s legal system, human rights organisations that have obtained court documents and testimonies have confirmed a pattern of abuses suffered by individuals in the course of their arrest, detention and trial. These include lack of access to consular support and representation, inability to mount a proper legal defence or appeal, and lack of access to court documents and legal representation.

Furthermore, defendants are commonly tortured or mistreated during interrogation and in detention, and courts rely heavily on torture-tainted “confessions”. These violations breach Saudi Arabia’s own laws, as well as obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Arab Charter on Human Rights.

In Saudi Arabia the cruelty of execution extends beyond the act itself, as families are frequently prevented from saying goodbye to their loved ones or informed of execution dates, often first learning the news through the media. Saudi Arabia does not return the remains of the individuals it executes, nor does it inform families of the burial site, further exacerbating the cruelty of its actions. 

Many families of prisoners on death row now live in fear of their imminent execution, amid a shocking surge in executions in the Saudi kingdom. 154 named individuals have been reported by the official Saudi Press Agency as having been executed in 2025 so far (as of 17 June). This is over 80% more than at the same stage in 2024, the year that saw the highest number of executions in Saudi history: 345.

Of those 154 individuals, 98 were executed for drug-related crimes, all on the basis of ta’zir (judicial discretion), of whom 69 were foreign nationals from 11 Asian and African countries: Somalia (19), Pakistan (12), Ethiopia (7), Jordan (6), Iran (6), Afghanistan (5), Syria (5), Nigeria (4), Egypt (3), Sudan (1) and India (1). 

Between 2010 to 2021, Saudi Arabia executed nearly three times as many foreign nationals for drug-related offences as Saudi nationals, and as early as 2018 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern regarding the disproportionate number of foreign nationals sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia.

Executions for non-lethal drug-related offences are in clear violation of international human rights law, which prohibits use of the death penalty for crimes that do not meet the “most serious” threshold, which is limited to crimes involving intentional killing. A short-lived Saudi moratorium on executions for drug offences lasted from January 2021 until November 2022 but was never consolidated in an official change of policy.

Saudi Arabia has for years been among the countries carrying out the highest number of executions in the world. Despite a pledge in 2018 from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to reduce use of the death penalty, the rate of executions has continued to soar, apart from a relative lull during the Coronavirus pandemic. As recently as March 2022, Mohammed bin Salman repeated the commitment to limit use of the death penalty, and to restrict it to the crime of murder, yet the years since have seen record-breaking numbers of people executed, many for non-lethal crimes. In the absence of transparency, and with executions sometimes carried out in secret, the real figures may be even higher. In 2022, for instance, 49 out of the total of 196 executions were not reported by the Saudi Press Agency in the usual way.

In light of the alarming scale on which executions are being carried out in Saudi Arabia, and the state of terror in which those convicted on drug-related charges are living, the undersigned organisations urge Saudi authorities to immediately:

• Commute the death sentences of all individuals on death row for crimes that do not meet the “most serious” threshold under international law;

• Establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty for all crimes; and

• Pending full abolition of the death penalty, remove from its laws any death penalty provisions that are in breach of international human rights law, such as its use for crimes that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes”.

Signatories:

1. African Academy of Diplomacy (AAD)

2. ALQST for Human Rights

3. Coalition of Somali Human Rights Defenders (CSHRD)

4. DAWN 

5. Death Penalty Focus

6. ECPM (Together against the death penalty)

7. Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF)

8. Egyptian Front for Human Rights

9. Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF) 

10. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)

11. European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) 

12. FairSquare 

13. German Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (GCADP)

14. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)

15. Horn Afrik News Agency for Human Rights (HANAHR) 

16. Human Rights and Democracy Media Center (SHAMS)

17. Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF)

18. MENA Rights Group

19. Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC)

20. Puntland Media Association (PUMA)

21. Puntland Women Journalists Association 

22. Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE)

23. Reprieve 

24. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR)

25. Somalia Civil Society Forum (SOCSOF)

26. Somalia Diaspora Voice (SDV)

27. Somalia Disability Network (SODIN)

28. Somalia Journalists Syndicate (SJS)

29. Somaliland Women Lawyers Association (SOWLA)

30. South West Human Rights Defenders Network (SWHRDN)

31. Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)

32. Women’s Action for Human Rights (WAHR)