The executions
Saudi authorities executed five Ethiopian migrants in Asir on 23 June 2026, after convictions for smuggling hashish, according to an Interior Ministry statement cited by Human Rights Watch and Arabi21.[1][2][3] Arabi21 published all five names from the statement and reported that the Supreme Court upheld the discretionary death sentences before a royal order authorised their execution.[3] Reporting on detainees at the Khamis Mushait facility confirmed that five Ethiopians were put to death on that date.[4]
The qat account
In one of these cases, a smuggler had forced the man to carry qat, a mild stimulant plant native to Ethiopia and Yemen, from Yemen into Saudi Arabia as a condition of facilitating his journey.[1] Cathinone, the stimulant in qat, is banned in Saudi Arabia but legally permissible and culturally consumed in parts of Ethiopia and Yemen.[1] The man did not know that carrying qat into and within Saudi Arabia was illegal.[1]
A wider pattern
The five were among at least 17 Ethiopian nationals executed on drug charges in Saudi Arabia since the start of 2026, with dozens more at imminent risk after trials that detainees and rights groups say denied basic due process.[1][4] Prisoners at Khamis Mushait said they had been forced to sign documents in Arabic without interpreters or adequate legal representation.[4]