Saudi sets new death penalty record with 340 executions in 2025

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

45% : 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.Analysts have largely linked 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 their 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.
34% : Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of oil, has faced consistent criticism over its use of the death penalty, which rights groups have condemned as excessive and in marked contrast to the kingdom's efforts to present a modern image to the world.

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