The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) announced at the end of last year that 2025 was a Saudi record in the amount of executions carried out. The ESOHR recorded 347 executions in the Kingdom during 2025, but emphasize this is a minimum count, as there is an issue of lack of transparency concerning Saudi official records. This minimum count is the third largest in the world, after China and Iran.
This rise in the use of capital punishment is a stark contrast to the plans Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced for his rule in 2018; he stated in an interview that he intended to reduce the use of capital punishment significantly. To reserve this punishment exclusively for the most serious of murders, where it would serve as an option decided upon by the victim’s family. Otherwise, all crimes previously warranting the death penalty would be replaced by prison sentences.
Furthermore, in 2021, the Crown Prince announced the eradication if the use of capital punishment on those accused of alleged crimes committed as minors. Since the announcement in January 2021, there was only one case of a child execution, this was the case of Mustafa Hashem al-Arwish in June 2021, up until 2025. Despite this announcement, the Saudi regime never followed it up with policy change, leaving it as an empty promise, vulnerable to retraction. As we have seen, this was the precise turn of events in 2025.
In August 2025, Saudi officials executed Jalal al-Labbad, for having attended pro-Shia protests and a funeral of a friend who was killed during the protests, when he was only 15 years old. After a torture tainted confession and unfair trial, he was sentenced to death and executed in 2025, making this the first child execution committed in Saudi Arabia since 2021.
Two months after al-Labbad’s death, Abdullah al-Derazi was executed by Saudi officials, for having participated in pro-Shia protests when he was 17 years old. His trial and sentencing also relied on a torture-tainted confession, and he was not granted legal counsel or the basic right to a fee and fair trial, similarly to al-Labbad.
Saudi Arabia is party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which explicitly prohibits the use of capital punishment for an offense committed by individuals under the age of 18. Furthermore, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Saudi Arabia has ratified, also forbids the execution of children for alleged offences committed as a minor.
Currently, there are seven individuals that have been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for alleged crimes they committed while they were children: Yousef al-Manasif, Ali al-Mabiouq, Jawad Qureris, Ali al-Subati, Hassan al-Faraj, Abdullah al-Huwati and Mahdi al-Mohsen. It is imperative that these individuals are removed from death row, in accordance with international law. The international community must exert urgent pressure on Saudi Arabia, to hold Saudi officials accountable in following international law, and prohibit the use of capital punishment on these individuals and prevent the sentencing of the death penalty on any others for alleged offences committed under the age of 18.
ECDHR condemns the inhumane use of capital punishment, especially in the event it is used on human rights defenders using their right to freedom of expression, even more so on children.
Saudi Arabia is carrying out an unprecedented amount of executions, without due process, and the patter only seems to be rising. Human rights defenders and children must be protected under international alw and Saudi Arabia must be held accountable.