Saudi Arabia executes five Ethiopians for drug smuggling

Saudi Arabia executed five Ethiopian nationals for drug-smuggling on Thursday, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said the five had been convicted of “participating in smuggling hashish into the kingdom”. They were put to death in Asir, a southern province on the Red Sea coast.

The executions brought Saudi Arabia's total for the year to 205. A record 356 people were put to death last year.

Five Ethiopians were executed in a single day in June and another five in one day in July. Thirty-two Ethiopians have been executed this year, the largest foreign group in the supplied figures.

Human Rights Watch warned in July that at least 79 Ethiopians faced imminent risk of execution on similar charges.

Thousands of Ethiopians work in low-skilled jobs in Saudi Arabia. Most take the “Eastern Route” from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia via Yemen.