2016 in Saudi Arabia

Incumbents

• Monarch: Salman
• Crown Prince: Muhammad bin Nayef

  Events

January

• January 2 - 47 alleged terrorists are executed by the Saudi state, including leader of the anti-government Shia movement, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
• January 2 - The embassy of Saudi Arabia in Tehran, Iran, is ransacked and set on fire by protesters against al-Nimr's execution.
• January 3 - Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran after the events that happened yesterday.
• January 4 - Saudi Arabia announces it will end all air traffic and trade links with Iran, demanding Iran to "act like a normal country" before severed diplomatic relations can be restored.
• January 5 - The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant threatens to destroy Saudi Arabia's Tarfiya and al-Ha'ir prisons, holding ISIL prisoners.
• January 12 - Saudi human rights activist Samar Badawi is arrested by Saudi police.

  April

• April 16 - Mariam Fardous became the first ever Arab woman and only the third woman in history to dive in the North Pole.

  October

• October 25 - Shooting left 2 security forces dead in Dammam city.

  Notable deaths

• 2 January - Nimr al-Nimr, Shia religious leader.
• 2 January - Faris al-Zahrani,.