Iraqi beheaded in Arar for smuggling hashish on New Year's Day 2005
Mattar bin Hussein bin Bakhit al-Khazaali, an Iraqi national, was beheaded in the northern town of Arar on 1 January 2005 after being convicted of smuggling hashish into Saudi Arabia; the Interior Ministry announced the execution alongside a Pakistani executed for heroin in Jeddah.
Iraqi national Mattar bin Hussein bin Bakhit al-Khazaali was beheaded after being
convicted of smuggling hashish into Saudi Arabia.[1]The execution took place in
the northern town of Arar, close to the Iraqi border, according to the Interior
Ministry statement.[1]
The beheading was carried out on Saturday 1 January 2005 and announced alongside the
execution of Pakistani national Mohammed Amin Abdullah Jan, who was beheaded in the
Red Sea port city of Jeddah for smuggling heroin.[1]The ministry statement said
al-Khazaali was the second Iraqi executed in Arar in ten days, after Qaied bin Kamal
al-Zayadi was beheaded there on 22 December for hashish.[1]Press tallies in the
announcement put beheadings at 35 in 2004 against 52 in 2003, most for drug
smuggling.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The quantity of hashish smuggled was not stated in the opened source.
No detail of the trial or court that convicted him was reported in the opened source.
Qaied bin Kamal al-Zayadi, an Iraqi beheaded in Arar on 22 December 2004 for hashish, now has his own report (arar-qaied-zayadi-hashish-execution-2004).
The Pakistani executed the same day in Jeddah was convicted of heroin smuggling, not cannabis, and is mentioned only to explain the announcement.
Only one accessible newsroom account of the Interior Ministry statement was found; reprints of the same wire were restricted or unavailable.
No photograph of the event with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened source.
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry executed two Ethiopian nationals in the Asir region on 11 November 2026 after convicting them of smuggling amphetamine pills and hashish into the kingdom. The ministry named the men and said their death sentences became final after appeal and confirmation by the Supreme Court.
Saudi Arabia executed five Ethiopian nationals in the Asir region on 5 November 2026 after convicting them of smuggling hashish. The executions brought the kingdom's 2026 total to 205, including 124 drug cases and 32 Ethiopians.
Saudi Arabia executed three Ethiopian nationals in the Asir region on 7 October 2026 after a court convicted them of jointly smuggling hashish into the kingdom. The interior ministry named them and said the death sentence was upheld on appeal and by the Supreme Court.
Saudi Arabia carried out a discretionary death sentence against Firas bin Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Sabah in the Madinah region on 29 August 2026 after convicting him a second time of trafficking hashish by transport.