Saudi Arabia Executed 171 Pakistanis in Recent Years, 155 for Drug Offences: Amnesty International

Saudi Arabia has executed 171 Pakistani nationals in recent years, including 155 convicted of drug-related offences, making Pakistanis the largest group of foreign nationals executed in the kingdom, according to an analysis by Amnesty International.

The figures are part of an Amnesty International report covering executions carried out between January 2014 and June 2025. During this period, Saudi authorities carried out 1,816 executions, including 597 for drug-related offences. Nearly three-quarters of those executed for drug offences were foreign nationals.

Pakistanis accounted for the highest number of executions among foreign nationals convicted of drug-related crimes, followed by Syrians with 66, Jordanians with 50, Yemenis with 39, Egyptians with 33, Nigerians with 32, Somalis with 22 and Ethiopians with 13.

According to Amnesty International and its partner organisations, including Justice Project Pakistan, many of those facing the death penalty came from disadvantaged backgrounds and had limited education and inadequate access to legal representation or consular assistance.

Amnesty International maintains that drug-related offences do not meet the international legal threshold for imposing the death penalty, which should be restricted to the “most serious crimes” involving intentional killing.

The number of executions in Saudi Arabia has increased sharply in recent years. The kingdom carried out a record 345 executions in 2024, followed by at least 356 in 2025. The trend continued in 2026, with dozens of additional executions, including those of Pakistani nationals convicted of drug-related offences.

On October 19, 2026, a Pakistani national was executed in Makkah after being convicted of heroin smuggling.

Saudi Arabia had previously suspended executions for drug-related offences for a period between 2020 and 2022. However, human rights organisations say the subsequent resumption and sharp increase in executions contradict the kingdom’s earlier efforts to limit capital punishment for certain non-violent crimes.

Amnesty International has called on Saudi authorities to impose an official moratorium on all executions as a step towards the complete abolition of the death penalty.