Saudi Arabia has executed six Iranians sentenced for drug trafficking, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) announced on Wednesday.
The Iranians were put to death in Dammam, on the kingdom’s Gulf coast, for having “clandestinely introduced hashish” into Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement published by the SPA, without specifying the date of the executions.
In response, Tehran summoned the Saudi ambassador to protest Riyadh’s execution of six of its citizens for drug trafficking, the foreign ministry said.
“Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Tehran was summoned,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that Tehran conveyed its “strong protest” against Riyadh’s action, which it described as “unacceptable” and a violation of “the rules and norms of international law”.
Riyadh has executed 117 people in 2024 for drug trafficking, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
In 2023, the authorities in the Gulf state launched a highly publicised anti-drugs campaign involving a series of raids and arrests.
The execution of traffickers has increased since the end of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty for drug charges two years ago.
Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad were attacked by protesters angered by the execution of a religious scholar.
Diplomatic ties were restored in March 2023, after a rapprochement brokered by China.
Saudi Arabia conducted the world’s third-highest number of executions in 2023, after China and Iran, according to the rights group Amnesty International.
