Two Saudis were executed for “terrorist crimes”, the official Saudi Press Agency said, after 15 people, mostly foreigners, were put to death for drug offences on Saturday and Sunday.

It is the quickest pace of capital punishment since March 2022, when 81 people were executed in a single day for terrorism-related offences, sparking widespread condemnation.

Thirteen of those put to death on Saturday and Sunday were convicted of smuggling hashish, and another for smuggling cocaine.

Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most prolific users of the death penalty, has carried out 239 executions so far this year.

The country is on course to outstrip last year’s 338 – the highest since public records first documented the cases in the early 1990s.

This year’s executions include 161 for drug offences and 136 foreigners, according to an AFP tally of official data.

Jeed Basyouni of the Reprieve rights group last week signalled a “significant rise in executions for hashish-related drug offences, with foreign nationals making up most of these executions”.

“This is particularly concerning given the global trend toward decriminalising the possession and use of hashish,” she told AFP.

Analysts link the spike to the kingdom’s “war on drugs” launched in 2023, with many of those first arrested now being executed following legal proceedings.

Saudi Arabia resumed executions for drug offences at the end of 2022, after suspending the practice for around three years.

It says it only carries out death sentences after defendants have exhausted all avenues of appeal, and that executions are aimed at ensuring security and deterring drugs.

Activists say the continued embrace of capital punishment undermines the image of a more welcoming society that is central to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform agenda.