Since the beginning of 2025, Saudi Arabia has executed 15 Somali nationals, all held in Najran prison and sentenced to death for hashish-related charges. According to the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR), this marks the highest number of foreigners executed so far this year. As of June 12, official data confirms 144 executions, including 71 non-Saudi nationals—a pace that suggests 2025 may surpass even 2024’s record-high death toll.
That record itself was already deeply alarming. In 2024, Saudi Arabia carried out 345 executions, the highest figure in its recent history. According to ECDHR, the first four months of 2025 alone saw 100 executions, averaging nearly one every 36 hours. About 70% of those executions were for non-lethal crimes, mainly drug and political charges. Ta’zir sentences, issued at judicial discretion, accounted for the majority, despite previous promises of reform.
This execution spree has disproportionately affected foreign nationals. As documented by Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), foreigners often face language barriers, no legal representation, and no consular access. In Tabuk prison, for example, 28 Egyptian nationals remain at risk of execution. Many have reported torture, solitary confinement, and broken promises of sentence reductions. Ten Egyptians in the same cell block have already been executed since January, mostly for drug charges.
This trend stands in sharp contrast to official Saudi rhetoric. In 2020, the government announced a moratorium on drug-related executions, raising hopes for reform. Yet after resuming executions in 2022, the numbers have only grown. By mid-2025, at least 68 people have been executed for drug-related offenses, as reported by ADHRB. Many of these individuals, including the 15 Somalis, were charged with trafficking small amounts of hashish—offenses that do not meet the “most serious crimes” threshold under international law.
A deeper look reveals a disturbing pattern of selective enforcement. Nearly all executions for drug-related offenses in Saudi Arabia involve foreign nationals, while Saudi citizens are almost never sentenced to death for similar crimes. According to human rights observers, this disparity is not coincidental but part of a calculated strategy. The Saudi government presents drug trafficking as a problem imported by foreigners, particularly migrant workers caught smuggling small quantities of narcotics across the border. Yet this narrative conveniently omits the domestic demand for drugs and the role of Saudi-based cartels in receiving, distributing, and profiting from those substances. Instead of investigating these internal networks or acknowledging its own drug use problem, the government focuses its punitive efforts on those least able to defend themselves. Foreigners, often coerced or economically desperate, are cast as the face of criminality, while the Saudi actors who facilitate drug circulation within the country operate with near-total impunity.
This approach is both unjust and politically convenient. Executing low-level mules allows the state to appear “tough on drugs,” yet in reality it acts as a smokescreen. It shifts attention away from the roots of the problem and scapegoats the vulnerable, while powerful domestic players remain untouched. The result is a system that punishes the powerless not for their crimes, but for their nationality and expendability.
This instrumentalization of justice is unfolding alongside Saudi Arabia’s global image campaign. Under Vision 2030, the Kingdom promised to modernize its legal system and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 16 on peace, justice, and strong institutions. A key reform promise was to limit executions, especially for drug offenses and minors.Yet today, those very groups remain most at risk.
While the world watches Saudi Arabia host Formula 1 races and campaign to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, the government continues to execute foreign workers in silence. If the current pace continues, 2025 may become the bloodiest year yet. Executing migrant workers for drug charges while ignoring internal networks is not justice; it is scapegoating. No credible reform can coexist with a system that punishes the powerless to protect political narratives. The international community must not be fooled by polished PR campaigns. As Saudi Arabia intensifies its crackdown, silence becomes complicity. It is time to stop pretending that executing the vulnerable is a solution. Justice must mean something more.