Six Iranian citizens have been executed in Saudi Arabia on charges of drug trafficking, Riyadh’s Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday. The ministry did not provide further details regarding the time of arrest, trial, and execution.

The executions took place in Dammam, located along the coast of the Persian Gulf, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

The Iranians were put to death for their involvement in smuggling hashish into Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry said.

Saudi Arabia has executed 330 people this year, marking the highest number in decades, despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 2022 claim that the death penalty would be limited to murder cases under his vision of a modernized kingdom.

However, the latest execution figures, compiled by the human rights group Reprieve and verified by Reuters, represent a sharp increase from 172 executions last year and 196 in 2022. Reprieve has called it the highest recorded total to date.

As part of its Vision 2030 plan, the kingdom is investing billions to shed its image of strict religious restrictions and human rights violations, aiming to rebrand itself as a global tourism and entertainment hub.

According to the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, the Islamic Republic executed at least 930 people in 2024. The figure for years 2023 and 2022 were 811 and 579 respectively.

“The international community must adopt a unified, consistent, transparent and effective response to protect those targeted and hold Iran, and other countries following its example, accountable,” read the report by Boroumand center on Tuesday.

Many death sentences are drug-related and are handed and carried out with relative ease, sparking criticism from human rights organizations that suggest the rise in executions may aim to intimidate the populace amid ongoing unrest.