The figures that have come out regarding death penalty in Saudi Arabia have surprised everyone. The cases of death penalty are continuously increasing here. Last year’s record of death penalty has been broken again this year. This year more death sentences have been given in Arabia than last year. Since then, the concern of human rights groups has increased.

According to BBC report, Britain’s campaign group Reprieve has given the information. It is said that about 347 people have been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia this year. In 2024 this figure was 345. This is a bloody year of hangings. Those who have been sentenced to death this year include a journalist and two protesting youths.

Death penalty being given in drugs case
According to Reprieve, this type of punishment is being given because of deaths caused by drugs. Two-thirds of the people hanged this year are said to be involved in drug crimes. These include many foreign citizens. In a way, this is a campaign launched against drugs.

Zeid Basyouni, a representative associated with Reprieve and serving in North Africa including the Middle East, said that Saudi Arabia is making a mockery of the human rights system. Innocent and marginalized people of the society are getting trapped in these actions. 96 have been hanged in Hashish (charas) cases. The Human Rights Office has termed this case as tragic.

UN has demanded a ban on death penalty
Joy Shea, a researcher on Saudi Arabia for Human Rights Watch, has said that Mohammed bin Salman and his officials did not have to pay any price for these executions. The families of those who are being hanged are not being informed. He is also not giving information about the method of giving death penalty. There is also beheading or firing squad here. An appeal has also been made by the UN to ban the death penalty.

The United Nations (UN) described the verdict against former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity as an important moment for the victims, but expressed regret over the death penalty. At the same time, Sheikh Hasina, living in India, has called this decision politically motivated.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, said in a press conference on Monday (November 17) that Guterres completely agrees with the stance of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk that we are against the use of death penalty under any circumstances. Dujarric was responding to a question on the UN Secretary General’s reaction to Hasina being sentenced to death in absentia by a Bangladeshi court.

Bangladesh court has given death sentence
Bangladesh’s International Criminal Tribunal on Monday found Sheikh Hasina guilty of crimes against humanity committed during protests against her government in July last year. Sheikh Hasina, 78, who has been living in India since the fall of her government in Bangladesh on August 5 last year, has been sentenced to death by the tribunal in her absence. After Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death, Awami League workers protested heavily in the capital Dhaka.

What did the United Nations Human Rights Council say
Sheikh Hasina’s aide and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has also been sentenced to death on similar charges. Raveena Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, said in a statement that the tribunal’s verdict against Hasina and the former interior minister is an important moment for victims of grave violations committed during the repression of protests last year. He further said that we regret the imposition of death penalty, which we oppose in every way under all circumstances.

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The stories of North Korea’s prominent leader Kim Jong Un’s dictatorship are famous worldwide. Often his strange and tough decisions keep making headlines. Another report has come out on the North Korean people to express their sites. A new report has revealed that people are being hanged in South Korean TV drama and other foreign media content in North Korea. The United Nations Human Rights Department released this report on Friday (12 September, 2025), which states that the laws in the country have become so strict that it has become the most tough controlled country in the world.

Strict ban on foreign media and death sentence
The report states that at least six new laws have been made in North Korea since 2015. Under these laws, watching foreign movies and TV shows or distributing with others is also considered a serious crime. These crimes can be punished till the death.

People who left the country said that the incidents of hanging in such crimes have increased rapidly since 2020. The government publicly executes these hangings so that people are afraid and avoid breaking the law.

Incidents of hanging after Kovid-19 increase
James Hinan, head of the United Nations North Korea Human Rights Office, said that the number of execution has increased since strict sanctions imposed during Kovid-19. He said, “Many people have been hanged under new laws, especially to distribute foreign TV series including popular K-Drama.”

Children are being forcibly employed
Hinan also told that in North Korea, children of poor and weaker sections are being forcibly employed. These children are being forced to do very dangerous and difficult things like coal mining and construction. Hinan said, ‘Often these children come from the lower part of the society, who do not have the means of paying bribe. They are engaged in ‘shock brigade’, which works very risky.

North Korea is the most strict controlled country in the world
It has been said in the report that due to these strict rules and strict process of punishment, North Korea has now become the most controlled country in the world. There the government has put a complete ban on all kinds of foreign information.

This report of the United Nations is based on more than 300 witnesses and interviews of people who have run away from North Korea. Experts say that the world should take such a situation seriously and take action to protect human rights in North Korea.

Executions in Saudi Arabia: There has been a lot of increase in the death penalty in Saudi Arabia last year. Amnesty International has expressed concern in this regard on Monday (July 7, 2025). Workers of Amnesty International said that the death sentence in Saudi Arabia has increased. He has expressed concern over the increasing sentence of death in cases related to non-sensational drugs.

According to Amnesty, 345 people have been hanged by Saudi Arabia in the last year. This figure is the highest recorded by the organization in the last three decades. In the first half of this year, 180 people have been sentenced to death only from January 2025 to June 2025. In such a situation, it is now being speculated that this record can break once again.

Human rights organization expressed concern

According to the Human Rights Organization Reprus, about two-thirds of the people who have been hanged so far this year were convicted in cases of non-sensational drugs. Amnesty has also expressed concern about the death penalty in such cases.

Saudi Arabia has not yet clarified why he is using the death sentence in such a large number and that too especially in cases of non-sensational drugs. According to the news agency Associate Press, when Saudi officials were asked about the death sentence, they did not respond.

However, the number of death sentence in Saudi Arabia is completely reversed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2022, in which he said that Saudi now gives death sentence only in murder cases.

What statement did Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia make,

In an interview to ‘The Atlantic’, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia said, ‘As far as the death penalty is concerned, we have abolished it except for a category (drug), which is clearly written in the Quran. Therefore, we cannot do anything in it, no matter what. Because this is the direct education of the Quran.

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Parliament session: The government told Parliament on Thursday (March 20, 2025) that the number of Indian citizens who have been sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates is 25, but the decision has not yet been implemented. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh gave this information to the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.

The Ministry of External Affairs was asked whether many Indians have been lodged in jails for years abroad? Along with this, details of those Indians have also been asked who are waiting for the death penalty abroad and what efforts have been made by the Government of India to save their lives. Singh said, “According to the information available with the ministry, the number of Indian prisoners including the prisoners under consideration in foreign jails is 10,152.”

Government presented data in Parliament

The minister said that the government gives high priority to the safety, safety and welfare of Indian citizens in foreign jails. Singh shared a tabular figure related to eight countries and also stated the number of Indian citizens who have been given the death penalty, but the decision has not yet been implemented. According to the data, it has been sentenced to death 25 Indians in the United Arab Emirates, 11 Indians in Saudi Arabia, six Indians in Malaysia, three Indians in Kuwait and one Indian in Indonesia, Qatar, America and Yemen.

‘Indians have all possible help’

He said, “Indian missions/posts abroad provide all possible assistance to Indian citizens, who have been sentenced by foreign courts with death penalty. Indians also visit missions/post jails and provide access to counseling and follow their cases with courts, jail, public prosecutors and other concerned agencies. Indian citizens in jail are also assisted in searching various legal measures including appeal, mercy petition etc.

No one got death sentence from 2020 to 2024

The Ministry of External Affairs was also asked whether an Indian has been given death penalty in foreign countries in the last five years? Singh said that such punishment has been given in Malaysia, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He said that in 2024, three Indian citizens were given death penalty in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This figure was one in Zimbabwe. In 2023, five Indians were given death penalty in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, while an Indian was given death penalty in Malaysia.

He said that there is no data available in the United Arab Emirates as the authorities have not shared this there. According to him, according to the informal information available with the Indian mission, no Indian has been given death penalty from 2020 to 2024.

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