Analysts attribute increase to kingdom’s ‘war on drugs’ as authorities kill 356 people by death penalty
Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, setting a new record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year.
Analysts have largely attributed the increase in executions to Riyadh’s “war on drugs”, with some of those arrested in previous years only now being executed after legal proceedings and convictions.
Official data released by the Saudi government said 243 people were executed in drug-related cases in 2025 alone, according to a tally kept by Agence France-Presse.
The figures mark the second consecutive year in which Saudi Arabia has carried out its highest number of executions, after authorities executed 338 people in 2024.
