"Saudi Executes 303 Death Penalties This Year"

Saudi Arabia has carried out 303 executions this year, AFP reported.

AFP estimated that about 200 people had been executed in the first nine months of this year, and that the pace of executions seemed to have accelerated in the weeks since, according to its own tally of executions, including four announced by the Saudi Interior Ministry on the 3rd local time.

According to Amnesty International's statistics, Saudi Arabia's number of executions was 196 in 2022, the highest ever, but AFP's own statistics set this year.

Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, who is in power, said in a media interview in 2022 that he does not sentence people to death except in a murder case or when an individual threatens the lives of several people.