UN body finds Saudi executions on drug charges ‘inexcusable’, document shows

By Emma Farge

GENEVA, March 17 (Reuters) – A U.N. body said the execution of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia on drug-related charges was inexcusable and urged Riyadh to pay reparations and change its laws to stop the use of the death penalty for such crimes.

Two Egyptians, Farhat Fathi Abdel Maksoud Abu al-Saud and Mohamed Kamel Salah Kamel, who worked as a driver and a carpenter in Saudi Arabia, were executed last year on drug charges, according to a U.N. document. 

The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention studied their cases and concluded in a finding published this week and reviewed by Reuters that they were detained without a legal basis and that their rights to a fair trial were violated.

“The Working Group considers that their death sentences are indefensible and the execution thereof inexcusable,” it said in its conclusions, finding that their execution violated Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Saudi government media office and its diplomatic mission in Geneva did not respond to requests for comment.   

UN URGES COMPENSATION, RETURN OF BODIES

The five-member Working Group, mandated by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty, asked Saudi Arabia to compensate the families and to send them the remains.

It also said the number of Saudi human rights violations might indicate a systemic problem of arbitrary detention in the country and urged it to re-implement a moratorium on the death penalty for drug-related offences.

In response to a request from the U.N. body, Saudi Arabia denied any violations and said the men were treated with dignity and given a fair and public hearing.

“Saudi law imposes the death penalty only for the most serious crimes, based on the belief that the right to life is the mostfundamental of rights,” it said, adding that it considered drug crimes no less serious than murder.

FOREIGNERS ON DEATH ROW

Rights groups allege that Saudi Arabia has sharply increased executions in recent years, especially of foreigners and for drug-related offences. This follows a decision to lift a moratorium on the use of the death penalty for such crimes in 2022.

The U.N. rights office said in emailed responses to Reuters that at least 356 people were executed in 2025, mostly on drug-related offences, and that around 57% of them were foreigners.

It was not clear how the individuals were executed in this case but in the past they have generally been beheaded, rights groups say. 

“This case is part of a much larger group, mostly foreigners, who are currently awaiting execution for drug-related crimes,” Falah Sayed, a senior legal officer of MENA Rights Group, which submitted the case, told Reuters.

“We hope this will pressure authorities to commute their sentences.” 

The U.N. Working Group has no enforcement mechanism, but its findings are often cited in court cases and cases it covers frequently lead to detainees’ release.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Timour Azhari in Riyadh; Editing by Alex Richardson)