Saudi executions rose sharply in 2024

The Saudi Arabia flag flies over the consulate in Istanbul, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia executed 330 people this year, the highest number in decades, despite de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman's 2022 assertion that the death penalty had been eliminated except for murder cases under his vision for a new open kingdom.

The country is spending billions to transform its reputation for strict religious restrictions and human rights abuses into that of a tourism and entertainment hub under the Vision 2030 plan launched by the crown prince, who is also known as MbS.

The latest execution toll, compiled from execution announcements by human rights NGO Reprieve and verified by Reuters, is a big jump from the 172 total for last year and 196 for 2022. Reprieve said it was the highest ever recorded.

"This reform is built on a house of cards that is built on record numbers of executions," said Jeed Basyouni, who works with Reprieve.

Saudi Arabia denies accusations of human rights abuses and says its actions are aimed at protecting national security.

More than 150 people were executed for non-lethal crimes this year, according to the tally, which rights groups say is contrary to international law.

Those executions were mainly related to alleged drug smuggling amid a flood of amphetamine-like captagon from Syria under ousted President Bashar al-Assad. They also included people charged with non-lethal terrorism, a charge rights groups say is often used against those who have participated in anti-government protests.

The total includes more than 100 foreign nationals from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The Saudi government communications office did not respond to detailed questions from Reuters on the execution figures.

After taking power in a palace coup in 2017, MbS faced international censure for cracking down on dissent and for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Saudi Arabia has maintained that Khashoggi's killing was carried out by a rogue group, although MbS has said that he bears ultimate responsibility because it happened under his watch.

Western governments largely shunned the kingdom following Khashoggi's death. U.S. President Joe Biden, during his 2020 candidacy for the office, said he would make Saudi Arabia a "pariah," but in 2022 visited the kingdom and fist bumped MbS.

Rights groups have accused the country of sentencing minors to death and using torture to extract confessions.

For decades Saudi Arabia held weekly executions by beheading with a sword in a public square; now that same area is dominated by cafes and restaurants with almost no sign of its bloody past.

"Repression is increasing, but you don't see it," said Dana Ahmed, MENA researcher at Amnesty International.

Relatives of people on death row, who did not wish to share their names due to security concerns, told Reuters they faced difficulties with the Saudi legal system.

A relative of one foreign national arrested on drug charges said he had simply been fishing near the coast and had no lawyer or representative in Saudi Arabia.

A family member of another defendant said they had heard no evidence against him despite attending sessions in the criminal court for more than three years.

Reuters was unable to verify the accounts independently.

MbS told the Atlantic in a 2022 interview that Saudi Arabia had eliminated the death penalty, except in cases of murder, which he said he was powerless to change since it is punishable by death according to the Qur'an.

(Reporting by Pesha Magid; edited by Andrew Mills, Michael Georgy, Philippa Fletcher)