Death Row Inmates Desperate to Escape Execution in Saudi Arabia Call the BBC

[The number of Ethiopians in Saudi prisons who face the prospect of execution for drug-smuggling offences is growing]. … Other foreigners, including Pakistanis, Sudanese and Jordanians, are in a similar position, but in the first seven months of this year 17 Ethiopians have been executed – the highest number among non-Saudis. Five of those executions happened [in a single day last week]. Two years ago, according to research by Amnesty International, just two Ethiopians were executed, but 35 were put to death in 2025. It is not clear exactly why there has been an uptick, but it could be linked to more people leaving the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, where a brutal two-year civil war in Tigray ended in late 2022, leaving devastation in its wake. “It may also be linked to Saudi Arabia’s expanding use of the death penalty for drug-related offences in recent years,” Amnesty International researcher Dana Ahmed tells the BBC. … After surviving the dangerous journey to Saudi Arabia in 2021, Habtom [a man from Tigray] found low-paid work as a goatherder, but his employers offered him and others a chance to earn more money. They were asked to deliver a package but were stopped by police on the way and were found with the narcotic leaf known as khat – a natural stimulant that is widely used in the Horn of Africa. … “I did not know what we were carrying. But later I was told it was khat. I don’t even know what khat is,” Habtom said, admitting that he was tempted into the work by the sum of money on offer. (BBC)