KSA executes more than 100 foreigners in 2024

DUBAI, Nov 17 (AFP): Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has executed more than 100 foreigners this year, according to an AFP tally indicating a sharp increase which one rights group said was unprecedented.

The latest execution, on Saturday in the southwestern region of Najran, was of a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

That brought to 101 the number of foreigners executed so far in 2024, according to the tally which is compiled from state media reports.

This is almost triple the figures for 2023 and 2022, when Saudi authorities had put to death 34 foreigners each year, according to AFP tallies.

The European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) said this year's executions had already broken a record.

"This is the largest number of executions of foreigners in one year. Saudi Arabia has never executed 100 foreigners in a year," said Taha al-Hajji, the group's legal director.

Saudi Arabia has faced persistent criticism over its use of the death penalty, which human rights groups have condemned as excessive and out of step with efforts to soften its forbidding image and welcome international tourists and investors.