The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that efforts to bring the pardoned citizens home are already underway. It credited the breakthrough to sustained diplomatic and consular engagement with Saudi Arabia. According to the ministry, the Ethiopian Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah maintained close contact with Saudi authorities to seek legal relief, expand consular access and press for humanitarian consideration for detained Ethiopians.
The ministry described the pardons as a reflection of the strong relationship between Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, particularly on consular and humanitarian issues. It said it would continue using every available diplomatic and consular channel to protect Ethiopians abroad. Officials also confirmed that discussions with Saudi authorities are continuing over other cases involving Ethiopian nationals, but did not say how many citizens still face legal proceedings.
When asked by CNN whether any of the 1,971 pardoned Ethiopians were among those sentenced to death on drug charges, the ministry declined to answer. The lack of clarity has done little to reassure rights advocates. A CNN investigation published this week found that dozens of Ethiopian prisoners on death row are being held together in a single ward at Khamis Mushait Prison in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Rights groups believe many more are detained on similar charges elsewhere in the kingdom.
One prisoner, identified by the pseudonym Amanuel, told CNN about the fear of living under the constant threat of execution. “I don’t know exactly when it will happen. It could be tomorrow,” he said. “Every time they knock, I feel it might be my turn.” Executions in Saudi Arabia are often carried out without prior notice, and families frequently learn about arrests or death sentences through community networks rather than official channels.
Rights advocates say Ethiopian defendants face particular challenges in Saudi courts. Taha al-Hajji, legal director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, said capital trials in the kingdom often fall short of basic standards of fairness. He said many migrant defendants are convicted without proper legal representation or qualified interpreters, and in some cases on the basis of confessions allegedly obtained through torture. Saudi authorities reject those claims, maintaining that defendants receive due process and that the courts are enforcing the country’s anti-trafficking laws.
Executions have risen sharply in recent years. Rights groups tracking official Saudi data say the kingdom executed 356 people in 2025, the highest annual total in recent memory. Of those, 240 were convicted of drug-related offences, most of them foreign nationals. That compares with just two drug-related executions recorded in 2023. So far this year, 71 people have been executed for non-lethal drug offences, with Ethiopians making up the largest group of foreign nationals executed.
Amnesty International raised similar concerns only weeks ago after Ethiopia announced another round of pardons for 1,665 citizens in June. The organization said Saudi Arabia executed 96 people during the first six months of 2026, including 61 for drug offences. Seven of those executed were Ethiopians. Amnesty warned that at least 63 more Ethiopians held at Khamis Mushait Prison remain at imminent risk of execution for drug-related offences. It has urged Saudi Arabia to stop carrying out executions for drug crimes and adopt a formal moratorium on the death penalty.
Saudi Arabia is home to one of the largest Ethiopian migrant communities in the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands work in domestic service, agriculture and construction, while researchers estimate that more than 100,000 additional Ethiopians enter the kingdom through Yemen each year using irregular migration routes. Ethiopia has secured several large-scale pardons and repatriations in recent years as it seeks to support its citizens abroad. Still, with dozens of Ethiopians reportedly remaining on death row, rights groups say the latest amnesty is an important step but not the end of the crisis.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah