Saudi Arabia has executed five Ethiopian nationals convicted of smuggling hashish into the country, bringing the kingdom’s total number of executions this year to 205.
The Saudi Interior Ministry announced the executions on Thursday in a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency.
It said the five men were convicted of “participating in smuggling hashish into the kingdom”.
They were executed in Asir, a southern province along the Red Sea coast.
The latest executions mark the third announcement of its kind in recent months involving Ethiopian nationals convicted of drug-related offences.
A record 356 people were executed in Saudi Arabia last year.
Five Ethiopians were executed in a single day in June, while another five were put to death in July.
With Thursday’s executions, the number of Ethiopians executed in Saudi Arabia this year has risen to 32, making them the largest group of foreign nationals executed in the kingdom in 2026.
Human Rights Watch warned in July that at least 79 Ethiopians faced an imminent risk of execution over similar charges.
Thousands of Ethiopians work in low-skilled jobs in Saudi Arabia.
Many of them travel to the oil-rich kingdom through the dangerous Eastern Route, which takes migrants from the Horn of Africa through Yemen.
The latest executions add to growing international attention on Saudi Arabia’s use of capital punishment, particularly for drug-related offences.