ILO should stand firm against efforts to dismiss complaint- JOINT PUBLIC STATEMENT - 24/03/2026
Amnesty International was among a number of human rights groups to call on the International Labour Organisation governing body to reject Saudi Arabia's requests to prematurely close the Article 26 complaint brought by African trade union groups against the country. Read more.
Essam Ahmed executed after grossly unfair trial - URGENT ACTION UPDATE - 22/12/2025
On 16 December 2025. Essam Ahmed, an Egyptian fisherman, was executed for drug related offences. Saudi authorities arrested him in December 2021 on a fishing boat between Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Essam Ahmed said he was coerced by a man wielding a gun to transport drugs. In November 2022, the Criminal Court in Tabuk sentenced him to death after a grossly unfair trial for non-violent, drug-related offences. Essam Ahmed said he was tortured immediately after his arrest and 'confessed' under torture to drug trafficking. He had no lawyer throughout his arrest and investigation period. Read more.
A decade of exploitation on the Riyadh Metro project - REPORT - 18/11/2025
Behind the gleaming façade of the newly opened Riyadh Metro lies a decade of labour exploitation. Amnesty International has revealed how workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal endured excessive recruitment fees, low and discriminatory wages, unsafe conditions in extreme heat, and inadequate housing - all while under the enduring control of the kefala sponsorship system. Read more.
Abdullah al-Derazi executed for alleged crimes as a child - URGENT ACTION UPDATE - 21/10/2025
On 20 October 2025, Saudi Arabian authorities executed Abdullah al-Derazi for crimes allegedly committed when he was under 18 years of age. Abdullah al-Derazi was sentenced to death on 20 February 2018 after a grossly unfair trial that relied on a torture-tainted 'confession'. The Specialised Criminal Court convicted Abdullah al-Derazi of 'terrorism'-related charges following participation in protests against the government's treatment of the Shia minority. Abdullah al-Derazi was 17 at the time of his alleged crime. Read more.
NGOs condemn escalating use of the death penalty - JOINT PUBLIC STATEMENT- 10/10/2025
Amnesty International was among a number of organisations to express horror at the alarming surge in executions in Saudi Arabia. Read more.
Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, executions in Saudi Arabia have reached record-high numbers. Between January 2014 and June 2025, Amnesty International monitored, collated and analysed official information on 1,816 executions. Of the 1,816 people, 597 people were executed for drug related offences. Nearly 75% of those were foreign nationals. The authorities also continued to wield the death penalty against the country's Shi'a minority, including for political dissent. The Shi'a minority accounted for 42% of executions for 'terrorism'-related offences in the past decade. Amnesty calls on the Saudi authorities to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty. Read more.
Dozens of men on death row in Saudi Arabia for drug-related crimes are terrified for their lives amid a dramatic surge in execution for drug offences in the country over recent months based on information from family members of detainees on death row. Read more.
Amnesty documents
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Updated 24/03/2026
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Country coordinators - Paul Dawson - paul.dawson@amnesty.org.uk