Currently, 28 Egyptian nationals are incarcerated in Tabuk prison, located in the northern part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, awaiting the imminent execution of their death sentences. With the number of individuals executed from the same prison reaching 6 since the beginning of 2025, all of whom were charged with drug-related offenses, the threat to the lives of the remaining inmates in the cell block intensifies.
In May 2024, Saudi Arabia resumed the execution of death sentences in drug-related cases after a nine-month hiatus. The resumption, after repeated interruptions—one of which lasted for nearly two years from January 2020 to November 2021—constituted a form of severe psychological torture. In addition to halting executions, the convicts had received multiple promises from the jailers, at times unofficially and at other times officially, regarding the alteration of their sentences. This included an announcement by the official Human Rights Commission in January 2021 to stop executing death sentences in drug-related cases, considering it as giving another chance to convicts in non-violent crimes.
Since the return of executions in high and unprecedented numbers, terror and fear have pervaded the prison cell blocks housing inmates convicted in drug-related cases, including Tabuk prison, which houses dozens of different nationalities, including Saudi, Jordanian, Syrian, Egyptian, and Sudanese.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights has managed to track some of the cases of convicts in Tabuk prison, despite intimidation, fear-mongering, and a lack of official transparency, and observed the sequence of events that expanded the terror experienced by those sentenced to death over the course of a year:
August 2024:
The organization documented several cases of Egyptian detainees, uncovering severe violations since their moment of arrest. These violations included physical torture, mistreatment, prolonged solitary confinement, and repeated psychological pressures through constant promises of sentence reductions — particularly in light of a previous suspension on carrying out executions. Additionally, detainees were intimidated into silence and discouraged from speaking out or publicizing their cases.
September 2024:
Thirty non-governmental organizations expressed grave concerns over the lives of hundreds of prisoners facing execution in Saudi Arabia on drug-related charges. Among them were 33 Egyptians confined in a single ward at Tabuk Prison.
November 2024:
On November 27, 2024, the prison administration transferred all death row inmates to a single overcrowded room where they were subjected to excessively harsh detention conditions, notably the lack of adequate beds. This situation persisted for more than two months without any effort to address the detainees' suffering or uphold the minimum standards of human dignity.
December 2024:
On December 3, following the execution of three Egyptian citizens, two UN Special Rapporteurs condemned Saudi Arabia's practices. They emphasized that drug charges do not qualify as “most serious crimes” under international law, and thus, issuing and enforcing death sentences against these individuals constitutes a violation of international standards. They called on the government to immediately halt the imminent execution of other detainees from Egypt and Jordan.
Later in December, the situation worsened as the brother of one of the Egyptian detainees was summoned within Saudi Arabia. Cases of detention and summons in Egypt were also recorded targeting relatives of detainees who demanded intervention from the Egyptian embassy to protect their loved ones. These actions reflect broad attempts to intimidate and deter calls for justice or exposure of violations.
By the end of 2024, the number of executions in Tabuk Prison due to drug-related charges alone had reached twenty-four, distributed as follows: ten Egyptians, five Syrians, six Saudis, and three Jordanians.
February 2025:
On February 18, 2025, several detainees initiated a hunger strike in protest against being deprived of normal communication with their families and the imposition of strict limitations on the available phone numbers. Additionally, detainees were subjected to humiliating treatment during their transfer to the prison’s medical clinic, where they were forced to walk barefoot and handcuffed. This treatment led some detainees to withdraw their requests for medical examinations despite suffering from various illnesses, fearing the degrading process.
April 2025:
On April 14, 2025, after the suspension of executions during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, authorities resumed enforcing death sentences. On the morning of April 17, a Sudanese detainee was executed after being awakened from his sleep and dragged to the execution yard. This incident caused widespread panic among the detainees, intensifying their fears that they might be next without prior notice.
The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights believes that the continued suffering of death row prisoners in Tabuk Prison represents a form of torture both for them and their families, violating international standards and laws that stipulate that the death penalty, in countries that still enforce it, should be carried out with minimal suffering.
In addition to the significant flaws in the trials, which strip them of fairness, the Organisation refers to the 2017 Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, which states: "States should recognize the families of death row inmates as victims and provide them with legal, psychological, and social support, including access to full information about the fate of their relatives." It also references the 2019 Report, which asserts: "Executions carried out without prior notification of the family or denying them visitation rights constitute a form of psychological torture. Family rights must be upheld, and mechanisms for informing families and enabling farewell visits must be ensured."
The Organisation considers Saudi Arabia’s neglect of the rights of death row prisoners and its infliction of severe psychological torture on them and their families over long periods exacerbates the brutality of the death penalty. In doing so, it transforms the punishment into one that is even more arbitrary and oppressive.