An execution spree in Saudi Arabia has in the past 48 hours seen the killings of a child defendant accused of joining protests as a teenager and two alleged drug carriers.
Reprieve is calling on the UK and other Governments to condemn the executions, call for a moratorium on the death penalty, and review justice assistance which could enable the killings of child and drug defendants.
The executions take Saudi’s execution tally beyond 300 this year, suggesting the annual number will far surpass last year’s public total of 345, making 2025 the worst year on record for executions in the Kingdom.
Child defendant Abdullah Al-Derazi was executed for alleged “crimes” which included participating in protests while he was still a child. He was physically and psychologically tortured during his detention and forced to sign a false confession.
Drug defendants Mohamed Saad and Omar Sherif have reportedly been executed this morning, despite being promised a halt in their executions and a case review following an order from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Most family members learned the news over social media; none of the families received advance notification and none of the prisoners’ bodies have been returned.
Families of Reprieve’s clients on death row have been informed by prison officers that Saudi Arabia’s execution spree reflects an effort to clear death row before the end of the year.
The executions fly in the face of past commitments by the Saudi Government not to execute child defendants or those accused of non-lethal drug offences.
Reprieve has issued an urgent warning on behalf of other child and drug defendants facing execution in the Kingdom, including Youssef al Manasif and Issam Al Shazly.
Reprieve is calling on the international community to condemn the executions of Abdullah Al-Derazi, Mohamed Saad and Omar Sherif, and urge the Saudi Government to place a full moratorium on executions and in particular executions of child defendants.
Reprieve’s Deputy Executive Director Dan Dolan said:
“Imagine learning via social media that your beloved son, detained for so-called “crimes” like joining protests as a child, had been executed in secret. This kind of cruelty has been visited on hundreds of families in this brutal execution spree. The international community should condemn these executions in the strongest terms possible, and call on Saudi Arabia’s Government to halt these killings and deliver on its promises not to execute child and drug defendants”.
