Khaberni - Saudi Arabia has executed 340 people since the start of 2025, in a record number for one year, according to a count by Agence France-Presse based on official announcements, after the execution was carried out on Monday against three citizens accused of killing a Sudanese.
The number exceeds the previous record of 338 recorded in 2024.
A statement by the Ministry of Interior reported by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) stated that "the death sentence was carried out by punishment against the culprits Ahmed bin Abdullah Al-Shamrani, Bandar bin Musa Al-Qarni, and Mahdi bin Yahya Awaji +Saudi nationals+ on Monday in the Mecca region", raising the number of executions to 340 since the beginning of 2025, including 232 people executed in drug-related cases.
Saudi Arabia is the third most frequent executor of death sentences in the world in the years 2022, 2023, and 2024, after China and Iran, according to Amnesty International based in London.
In 2024, Saudi Arabia executed 338 people in a record number since the recording of death sentences began in the Gulf kingdom, according to Amnesty International, which began documenting executions in Saudi Arabia in 1990.
The rise in executions linked to drug crimes was a major factor in the sharp increase in the total number of executions in 2025, as was the case in 2024.
