SAUDI ARABIA: SEVEN PEOPLE EXECUTED IN A DAY

April 13, 2026:

Saudi authorities executed seven people who had been convicted of drug trafficking in a single day, state media said on April 12, 2026.
The Saudi Press Agency said five Saudis and two Jordanians were found guilty of trafficking amphetamine pills into the kingdom.
“The death penalty was carried out as a discretionary punishment against the perpetrators,” the agency reported, adding that the executions took place on April 12 in the Riyadh region.
Since the beginning of 2026, Riyadh has executed 38 people in drug-related cases, the majority of the 61 executions carried out, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Foreign nationals make up the majority of those executed this year, totalling 33 people.
In 2025, executions in the kingdom reached a record level for the second consecutive year, with authorities executing 356 people, including 243 in drug-related cases.
The number of executions in 2025 marked the highest in a single year since Amnesty International began documenting death penalty cases in the Gulf kingdom in 1990.
The previous record, 338, was recorded in 2024.
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.