Saudi Arabia executes six Iranians for drug trafficking: Reports state media

Saudi Arabia has executed six Iranians sentenced for drug trafficking, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) announced on Wednesday.

The Iranians were put to death in Dammam, on the kingdom's Gulf coast, for having "clandestinely introduced hashish" into Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement published by the SPA, without specifying the date of the executions.

Riyadh has executed 117 people in 2024 for drug trafficking, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

In 2023, the authorities in the Gulf monarchy launched a highly publicised anti-drugs campaign involving a series of raids and arrests.

The execution of traffickers has increased since the end of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty for drug charges two years ago.

Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad were attacked by protesters angered by the execution of the Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Diplomatic ties were restored in March 2023, after a rapprochement brokered by China.

Saudi Arabia conducted the world's third-highest number of executions in 2023, after China and Iran, according to the rights group Amnesty International, which has been documenting executions in the kingdom since the 1990s.

The use of the death penalty by Riyadh is regularly criticised by human rights groups. The Saudi authorities say the death penalty is necessary to maintain public order and is only used after all appeals have been exhausted.