UN expert urges Saudi Arabia halt execution of 26 Egyptians 

A UN expert has called on the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to immediately halt the imminent execution of 26 Egyptian nationals on drug-related charges.

“The Government’s claim that applying the death penalty for offences such as smuggling, receiving and distributing narcotic substances under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act complies with international law is incompatible with its legal obligations under International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” said Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

The 26 Egyptians are detained in Tabuk prison and had been informed of their scheduled execution after the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Other Egyptians from the same group were executed on 24 and 25 May.

The statement noted that UN experts had previously raised these issues with the Saudi government through official communication, and the UN had received an official response from the Saudi authorities.

“The death penalty for drug-related offences fails to meet the threshold of the ‘most serious crimes, and lacks conclusive evidence of serving as an effective deterrent,” the expert said.

According to court documents reviewed by the expert, some of the Egyptian prisoners were denied legal representation, while others were convicted based on self-incriminating statements which they later retracted in court, claiming that they were made under coercion.

“The right to effective legal representation must be ensured at all stages of criminal proceedings – during interrogations, preliminary hearings, trial, and appeal – and constitutes an effective safeguard against torture and other forms of ill-treatment,” the expert said. “Violations of fair trial guarantees leading to the imposition of the death penalty render such sentences arbitrary and unlawful,” he added.

According to reports, Saudi Arabia has executed at least 141 people since the beginning of 2025, including approximately 68 foreigners, most of whom were executed for non-fatal drug-related offenses. The UN expert stressed that carrying out death sentences in such cases increases the number of people subjected to punishments that fundamentally contravene human rights standards and constitute arbitrary deprivation of life.

“I urgently call on the Government of Saudi Arabia to halt the planned executions of the 26 Egyptian nationals, to abolish the death penalty for drug-related offences, and to ensure that its drug control policies fully comply with its international human rights obligations, notably the right to life,” the expert said.