Alarming Statistics of Death Sentences in Saudi Arabia in 2023
After the execution of four defendants in the final days of last year, the number of executions in Saudi Arabia reached 170 people in 2023
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Official data reveals that the Saudi Arabian government executed 170 individuals in 2023, with 147 of them having been sentenced to death in the preceding year, 2022. According to the official news agency of Saudi Arabia (WAS), authorities in the country carried out the execution of four Saudi citizens who had been sentenced to death in the final days of 2023.
With the execution of these four individuals, the tally of executions in Saudi Arabia for 2023 rose to 170, of which 33 were purportedly convicted in cases related to terrorism, and two soldiers were executed for treason.
The highest number of executions in a single month in Saudi Arabia in 2023 was recorded in December, totaling 38.
In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 147 individuals, including 81 on a single day, prompting significant international outcry.
Human rights organizations' statistics reveal that Saudi Arabia has executed 1,300 people over the past decade.
The Al-Saud regime remains among the countries with the highest number of executions, employing this penalty frequently against men, women, and even minors. Many of these executions occur clandestinely and contravene both Islamic and international laws.
Each year, the Saudi government metes out severe punishments and death sentences to numerous opponents of the Al-Saud regime, purportedly in the name of combating terrorism but often to stifle freedom of expression.
According to the Saudi European Organization for Human Rights, Saudi Arabia has set a record for executions over the past decade. Despite executing approximately 1,300 individuals from 2013 to November of the previous year, over 1,100 of these occurred during the reign of King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who has ruled Saudi Arabia since early 2015.
The death penalty in Saudi Arabia is frequently linked with allegations of widespread ill-treatment and torture, with detainees subjected to various forms of abuse from the moment of their arrest.
According to the Saudi European Organization for Human Rights, these acts of torture encompass beatings, physical force, enforced disappearance, electric shocks, sleep deprivation, nail extraction, suspension by the feet, and other methods designed to extract confessions.
According to the report from the mentioned organization, Mustafa Al-Darwish, a teenager from Qatif, was executed in June 2021 after being coerced into signing confessions under torture.
The organization stated that torture has resulted in disabilities, fainting, loss of consciousness, permanent injuries, and pain among prisoners sentenced to death.
Furthermore, the organization emphasized that mistreatment and torture persist from the moment of detention and continue even after death sentences are issued. For instance, "Abbas al-Hassan," a Saudi businessman executed in April 2019, was subjected to prolonged periods of standing in solitary confinement as punishment for taking glasses from his family.
Apart from the torture and mistreatment inflicted upon the accused by Saudi authorities, their families also endure harassment. These families are deprived of the opportunity to bid farewell to their loved ones, and they often remain unaware of when and where their children's bodies are buried. This ongoing anguish constitutes a form of continuous torture against these families.
According to the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, Saudi Arabia has yet to return the bodies of 132 individuals to their families.
This organization highlighted the lack of transparency in the Saudi government's handling of execution cases and its strict secrecy, which hinders the accurate determination of the number of individuals facing this punishment. With the escalation of repression, the arrest of human rights defenders, the prohibition of any civil activities, and the intimidation of families in Saudi Arabia, accessing information about convicts has become increasingly challenging.
Saudi authorities have been known to execute minors and employ the death penalty against individuals who protested against the confiscation of their land for the Neom project. Additionally, Al Saud has sentenced many individuals to death on charges related to expressing opinions, publishing books, or making political claims.
Saudi Arabia routinely employs the death penalty in an arbitrary manner, targeting minors, prisoners of conscience, protesters, and critics. These sentences are fundamentally unjust and frequently coincide with reports of torture and mistreatment. The inherent unfairness of the judicial system in Saudi Arabia, coupled with the suppression of civil society activities, obstructs any meaningful response to the ongoing pattern of arbitrary executions.
Human rights organizations have noted a deterioration in the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia since the ascent of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to power. This raises questions about the simultaneous increase in security measures within Saudi Arabia coinciding with bin Salman's rise to prominence.
International legal organizations unequivocally hold the Saudi authorities accountable for their egregious violations of human rights and freedoms, emphasizing the urgent need to cease repression and unfounded accusations against the people of the country.
In recent years, numerous reports have surfaced detailing extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, and the suppression of legitimate demands from religious minorities within Saudi Arabia.
Observers of Saudi affairs assert that Riyadh's documented history of torture, executions, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and harsh arrests has led international organizations to rank Saudi Arabia as one of the worst human rights violators in the world.
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