--- description: Saudi Arabia is advertising job vacancies for executioners amid a surge in public beheadings in the Islamic kingdom. title: Saudi Arabia Is Looking For Executioners image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf487a61690f0744d/69884d1c5f570f1a0eb1b306/rtxxs25.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Saudi Arabia](/tag/saudi-arabia/) ## Saudi Arabia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Saudi Arabia Is Looking for Executioners to Carry Out Public Beheadings ## Video: Global Risks You Should Care About Right Now [Watch (HLS stream): Global Risks You Should Care About Right Now](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PqXWqYtA.m3u8) (4:20)  _Published 2015-01-13. A yearly look ahead about what you should—and shouldn’t—worry about in the geopolitical and economic landscape for 2015_ by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 19, 2015 9:15 AM CUT  A mock execution scene in protest of Saudi Arabia beheadings in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Oct 15, 2011 A mock execution scene in protest of Saudi Arabia beheadings in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Oct 15, 2011Andrew Biraj—Reuters by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 19, 2015 9:15 AM CUT On Monday, eight new job openings for “religious functionaries” tasked with “[carrying](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/world/middleeast/wanted-in-saudi-arabia-executioners.html "undefined") out the death sentence according to Islamic Shari’a after it is ordered by a legal ruling” appeared on the website of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Civil Service. Capital punishment is administered for crimes like murder, rape, adultery, witchcraft and drug offenses in the Islamic kingdom, which is currently witnessing an uptick in beheadings under Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman, the New York _Times_ reports. In 2015, the pace of executions accelerated to 85 in just a few months — already set to eclipse last year’s total of 88 beheadings. It is not clear why there has been a sharp increase, but new judges have swiftly been plowing through a case backlog, [according](http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN0O31K120150518 "undefined") to Reuters. The vacancies do not specify educational credentials or required skills, but the executioners are ideally adroit swordsmen, as the most common execution implement is a curved scimitar. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3883537/saudi-arabia-job-post-executioners/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3883537/saudi-arabia-job-post-executioners/"},"headline":"Saudi Arabia Is Looking for Executioners to Carry Out Public Beheadings","datePublished":"2015-05-19T09:15:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:26:50.519Z","description":"How long before they bring in the headhunters?","url":"https://time.com/3883537/saudi-arabia-job-post-executioners/","keywords":["Saudi Arabia","Capital Punishment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf487a61690f0744d/69884d1c5f570f1a0eb1b306/rtxxs25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sabrina Toppa","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf487a61690f0744d/69884d1c5f570f1a0eb1b306/rtxxs25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A mock execution scene in protest of Saudi Arabia beheadings in Dhaka October 15, 2011","caption":"A mock execution scene in protest of Saudi Arabia beheadings in Dhaka October 15, 2011","creditText":"Andrew Biraj—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/saudi-arabia/","name":"Saudi Arabia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3883537/saudi-arabia-job-post-executioners/","name":"Saudi Arabia Is Looking for Executioners to Carry Out Public Beheadings"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Global Risks You Should Care About Right Now","description":"A yearly look ahead about what you should—and shouldn’t—worry about in the geopolitical and economic landscape for 2015","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PqXWqYtA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-01-13T22:16:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PqXWqYtA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3883537/saudi-arabia-job-post-executioners/","duration":"PT4M20S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3883537/saudi-arabia-job-post-executioners/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```