Is blasphemy illegal in Saudi Arabia?
Death penalty possible
Saudi Arabia prescribes death penalty for blasphemy under Sharia law.
Saudi Arabia is one of 6 countries classified “Death penalty possible” for blasphemy — 11% of the 57 with data.
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Blasphemy law
- Last checked
- 7 July 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- Kuwait
- Criminal offense Kuwait's cybercrime law punishes insulting religious figures with up to 12 months imprisonment and fines.
- Qatar
- Criminal offense Qatar punishes blasphemy with up to seven years imprisonment and fines for defaming Islam.
- Yemen
- Death penalty possible Blasphemy in Yemen can carry the death penalty under Islamic law, with some interpretations prescribing death for such offenses.
- Jordan
- Criminal offense Jordan's Penal Code criminalizes scorning prophets with up to three years imprisonment, and insulting religious feelings.
- United Arab Emirates
- Criminal offense UAE criminalizes blasphemy under Article 312 of the Penal Code with minimum one-year jail or fine.
- Palestine
- Criminal offense Palestine criminalizes blasphemy under civil and military law, with cases like Al-Husseini's prosecution.
Other laws in Saudi Arabia
- Apostasy Laws
- Death penalty possible
- Holocaust Denial
- No specific law
- Flag Desecration
- Criminal offense
- Conversion Therapy
- No ban
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.