Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia is a legal punishment, with most executions in the country being carried out by decapitation (beheading) – Saudi Arabia being the only country in the world to still use the method.[1] In 2022, recorded executions in Saudi Arabia reached 196, the highest number recorded in the country for any year over the last three decades.[2]
Death sentences are almost exclusively based on the system of judicial sentencing discretion (tazir), following the classical principle of avoiding Sharia-prescribed (hudud) penalties when possible.[3] In recent decades, the government and the courts have increasingly issued these sentences, reacting to a rise in violent crime during the 1970s. This paralleled similar developments in the U.S. and Mainland China in the late 20th century.[3] The performing of executions by decapitation (beheading), in public, led to a central square in the Kingdom's capital, Riyadh, being known in the West as "Chop-Chop Square".
The kingdom executed at least 158 people in 2015,[4] at least 154 in 2016,[5] at least 146 in 2017,[6] 149 in 2018,[7] 184 in 2019,[8] 69 in 2020, and 196 in 2022.[9] The drastic reduction in 2020 was due to a moratorium on death penalties for drug-related offenses[10] as Saudi Arabia proposed ending the death penalty for these and other nonviolent offences.[11][12] Additionally, on 26 April 2020, a royal decree ended the execution of people who were juveniles when they committed their crime.[13][14] (Saudi Arabia had previously executed these people despite having signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child.)[15] Nonetheless, there were 67 executions in 2021, more than doubling the previous year's, according to the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights. In January 2022, at least 43 detainees, including 12 minors, were threatened with execution.[16] On March 12, 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 81 people, seven of whom were Yemenis and one of whom was a Syrian,[17] in the largest known mass execution in the history of the country.[18]
^"An execution every two days: Saudi Arabia's surge in killings". www.amnesty.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
^"Death sentences and executions 2022". Amnesty International. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
^ abVikør, Knut S. (2005). Between God and the Sultan: A History of Islamic Law. Oxford University Press. pp. 266–267.
^"Saudi Arabia ends 2015 with one final execution". The Independent. January 2016. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
^"Death sentences and executions in 2016". amnesty.org. 11 April 2017. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
^"The Death Penalty in 2017: Facts and Figures". Amnesty International. 2018-04-12. Archived from the original on 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
^"Death Penalty Worldwide". deathpenaltyworldwide.org. Archived from the original on 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
^Sullivan, Rory (15 April 2020). "Saudi Arabia has carried out 800 executions since 2015, says rights group". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
^"Database". Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. 24 December 2019. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
^"Dramatic drop in Saudi executions after laws changed in 2020". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2021-05-26. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
^Correspondent, Richard Spencer, Middle East. "Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to end death penalty for drug crimes". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-01-13.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Fahim, Kareem. "Saudi Arabia, a world leader in executions, weighs ending capital punishment for drug crimes". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
^"Saudi Arabia executes 37 people in a single day – including three juveniles". Reprieve. Archived from the original on 2019-10-23. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
^"Saudi Arabia scraps execution for those who committed crimes as minors: Commission". Reuters. 2020-04-26. Archived from the original on 2020-04-27. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
^"IBAHRI welcomes Saudi Arabia's move towards total abolition of the death penalty". International Bar Association. 1 May 2020. Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
^"إعدامات السعودية 2021: اضطراب القرار السياسي – المنظمة الأوروبية السعودية لحقوق الإنسان". Archived from the original on 2022-02-18. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
^"Saudi Arabia executes 81 men in one day for terrorism, other offences". Reuters. Reuters. Reuters. 12 March 2022. Archived from the original on 13 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
^"Saudi Arabia executes 81 people in a single day". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
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