08 January 2025 :

Saudi Arabia carried out at least 338 executions in 2024, sharply up on the 170 recorded in 2023 and the highest number in decades, according to an AFP tally of official reports.
Human rights group Amnesty International, which has been documenting executions in the kingdom since the 1990s, has said the previous highs were 196 in 2022 and 192 in 1995.
Convicted drug traffickers made up at least 117 of those put to death last year, the AFP tally showed.
There has been a flurry of executions of convicted drug traffickers since the kingdom ended a moratorium on the use of the death penalty for drug offences two years ago.
In 2023, the authorities launched a highly publicised anti-drugs campaign involving a series of raids and arrests.
Saudi Arabia has become a major market for the addictive psychostimulant captagon, which was produced in huge quantities in Syria during the civil war which culminated in the overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad last month.
Foreigners made up 129 of the 338 people executed in 2024, another record.
They included 25 Yemenis, 24 Pakistanis, 17 Egyptians, 16 Syrians, 14 Nigerians, 13 Jordanians and seven Ethiopians.