Death Penalty for Non-Lethal Crimes? Global Executions Hit 2,707 in 2025

Executions in Mecca: Two Bangladeshi Nationals Raise Questions

On 14 October 2026, Saudi Arabia executed two Bangladeshi nationals, Nazerul Islam Abdul Basir and Siti Akhtar, in the Mecca region. Saudi authorities said they had been convicted of an unspecified “immoral act” inside a mosque and sentenced under ta’zir, a category of discretionary punishment under Islamic law.

The case has raised serious questions because the public announcement did not provide a detailed account of the alleged conduct.

Bangladeshi media reported that Nazrul Islam was 22 years old. His family said he left Bangladesh on 10 November 2022 to find work in Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a cleaner. According to his family, he was detained about six months after arriving and remained in custody for roughly three years and three months.

His father, Abdul Basir, reportedly borrowed Tk 7 lakh (USD 5700 approx) to send his eldest son abroad. The family said it learned about the execution through media reports and appealed for his body to be returned to Bangladesh.

Much less is publicly known about Siti Akhtar, also referred to in some reports as Sweety Akhtar. Her age and full personal circumstances have not been independently established in the reporting reviewed.

Bangladeshi officials said they had not received advance notification and sought an explanation from Saudi Arabia.

The central question is unavoidable: if the alleged conduct did not involve intentional killing, was execution a proportionate punishment? The complete court judgments and detailed evidence have not been made public in the reports reviewed, so the full circumstances remain unclear.

A Global Surge in Executions

The concern extends far beyond Saudi Arabia.

According to Amnesty International’s report published in May 2026, at least 2,707 people were executed in 17 countries during 2025, the highest annual total recorded by the organisation since 1981.

That was a 78% increase over the 1,518 executions recorded in 2024.

Using Amnesty’s recorded total of at least 527 executions in 2010, the increase by 2025 works out to approximately 413.7%. However, these are recorded minimums, not a complete count of all executions worldwide. China and several other countries do not publish comprehensive figures.

The countries with the highest known totals in 2025 included:

China is believed to execute more people than any other country, but its secretive reporting makes independent verification impossible. Iran’s recorded total alone was roughly six times Saudi Arabia’s.

The Most Shocking Figure: Drug Offences

Here is where the debate becomes more serious.

At least 1,257 people were executed for drug-related offences in 2025, representing approximately 46% of the documented global total.

In Saudi Arabia, 240 of the 356 recorded executions were drug-related, about 67%. Iran recorded at least 998 executions for drug offences, while Singapore recorded 15 out of 17.

These figures challenge the assumption that people on death row are necessarily murderers or convicted killers.

Drug trafficking can devastate families and communities, and governments have a legitimate duty to combat it. But the death penalty raises a separate question: should a person be executed for an offence that does not involve intentionally killing another human being?

What Does the UN Say?

The UN Human Rights Committee interprets Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as restricting the death penalty to the “most serious crimes”, meaning crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing.

Under this interpretation, offences that do not involve intentional killing do not qualify. Examples include:

• Drug trafficking and supply
• Corruption and bribery
• Economic crimes
• Rape and other non-lethal sexual offences
• Blasphemy and apostasy
• Adultery
• Armed robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder where no intentional killing occurred

Yet some countries continue to impose and carry out death sentences for such offences under domestic law.

This does not mean these crimes should go unpunished. It means that a crime can be serious without necessarily justifying the irreversible punishment of death.

Is Execution the Answer?

The case of the two Bangladeshi nationals remains difficult to assess without the full judgments and evidence. It would be irresponsible to assume every detail of their alleged conduct. But the lack of publicly available information makes transparency all the more important.

For drug offences, governments can pursue major traffickers, dismantle criminal networks, impose proportionate prison sentences and support treatment for people struggling with addiction. Rehabilitation cannot replace prosecution of serious criminal activity, but neither should every person involved in a drug case automatically be treated as equally responsible.

Execution leaves no possibility of correcting a wrongful conviction or allowing someone to reform. That makes fair trials, credible evidence and proportionality essential.

The Final Question

The world is becoming more technologically advanced, yet recorded executions have risen sharply. At least 1,257 people were executed for drug offences in a single year, while two Bangladeshi nationals were executed in Saudi Arabia in a case whose full details remain unclear publicly.

Governments have the right and responsibility to enforce their laws. But the power to punish is not the same as an unlimited right to take life.

If an offence does not involve intentionally taking another person’s life, should the state have the power to take the offender’s life in return?

That is the question behind the numbers, the diplomatic tensions and the growing debate over capital punishment.