Pakistani beheaded in Mecca for hashish; Nigerian executed alongside him
Pakistani national Ijaz Ahmad Nadar Khan was beheaded in Mecca on 21 November 2006 after being sentenced to death for receiving contraband hashish; an unnamed Nigerian convicted of swallowing cocaine was executed with him.
Pakistani national Ijaz Ahmad Nadar Khan was beheaded by sword in the western Saudi city of Mecca after being sentenced to death for receiving contraband hashish, according to an Interior Ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.[1]An unnamed Nigerian was beheaded with him after being convicted of introducing cocaine into the kingdom concealed in his stomach.[1][2]
The two executions were announced together and bring that year’s reported execution total in Saudi Arabia to at least 26.[1]Under Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, drug trafficking is among the offences punishable by death, and executions are generally carried out in public.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The reports give 21 November as the execution date while the mailing-list digest carrying the news is headed 22 November; 21 November is the date this report uses.
The Nigerian executed alongside Khan was not named and the quantity of hashish Khan received was not stated in the opened sources.
No detail of either man's trial or the court that convicted them was reported in the opened sources.
No photograph of the event with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened sources.
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.