Hundreds put to death for non-violent drug offences over past decade, with little scrutiny of Saudis, says Amnesty
Saudi Arabia has carried out a “horrifying” number of executions for drug crimes over the past decade, most of which were of foreign nationals, according to Amnesty International.
Almost 600 people have been executed over the past decade for drug-related offences, Amnesty International has found, three-quarters of whom were foreign nationals from countries including Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and Egypt.
After a temporary moratorium on drug-related capital punishments between 2021 and 2022, the executions jumped to record levels, with 122 in 2024 and 118 so far this year up until the end of last month.
It’s crazy how once one authoritarian regime starts getting rowdy, a bunch of others start doing horrible things too.
It’s like they plan to act on their most evil plans in the chaos of everybody else popping off, so that the world’s eyes are left spinning on which atrocity needs to be focused on first, and their particular crimes against humanity get very little individual attention.