Saudi Arabia: Iranians sentenced to death for drug smuggling

 Thursday, January 2, 2025

Islamabad (UrduPoint  News Today/ Pakistan Point News - DW Urdu - 02 January 2025) Saudi Arabia's official news agency SPA reported on Wednesday, citing Interior Ministry officials, that six Iranian citizens have been sentenced to death. According to the agency, they were arrested on charges of smuggling hashish into the kingdom.

However, Saudi authorities did not say when the death sentences were carried out.

The official news agency SPA published a statement from the Saudi Interior Ministry, which said that the six people were sentenced to death in Dammam on the Gulf coast for "secretly importing hashish" into the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia: Record over 300 people sentenced to death this year

Iran's strong reaction

According to Iranian media reports, Iran summoned the Saudi ambassador in Tehran in response to the death sentences and "strongly protested".

The Foreign Ministry in Tehran said Iran summoned the Saudi ambassador to lodge a “strong protest” against the “unacceptable” violation of “principles and traditions of international law.”

Saudi Arabia: Over 100 foreigners sentenced to death, most Pakistanis

“The Saudi ambassador to Tehran was summoned,” the ministry said in a statement, and Tehran conveyed its “strong protest” against Riyadh’s move, which it described as “unacceptable” and a violation of “principles and traditions of international law.”

Iranian media reports said that “a note of strong protest from Iran, highlighting the inconsistency of the move within the framework of overall judicial cooperation between the two countries, was sent to Saudi authorities and the need to provide appropriate clarification on the matter was stressed.”

Saudi Arabia: More than 100 people beheaded this year

Saudi Arabia increases executions

At least 338 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2024, a big increase from the 170 executions recorded in 2023 and the highest number in decades.

Human rights group Amnesty International, which has been collecting data on executions in the kingdom since the 1990s, said that before that, 196 people were executed in 2022 and 192 in 1995.

Five Pakistanis were executed in Saudi Arabia

At least 117 of those executed last year were drug traffickers, the agency’s figures show.

Two years ago, the kingdom lifted its ban on the death penalty for drug crimes, and has since continued to execute drug traffickers.

In 2023, authorities launched a highly publicized anti-drug campaign, which has seen a series of arrests and raids.

Five people executed in Saudi Arabia at the same time

Of the 338 people executed in 2024, 129 were foreigners, a new record. They included 25 Yemenis, 24 Pakistanis, 17 Egyptians, 16 Syrians, 14 Nigerians, 13 Jordanians and seven Ethiopians.

In March 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 81 people in a single day for “terrorism crimes,” drawing international outrage.

The dark side of Saudi Arabia's Neom desert city

Only China and Iran executed more people in 2023 than Saudi Arabia, which has not yet published its 2024 figures, according to Amnesty.

Saudi authorities say the death penalty is necessary to maintain public order and is used only after all appeals have been exhausted.