Saudi Arabia mass execution

2022 - 3 - 14

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Equal Justice Initiative"

Saudi Arabia Executes 81 People in Largest Mass Execution in ... (Equal Justice Initiative)

The number of people executed on Saturday exceeds the country's two most recent mass executions—47 people were executed in 2016 and 37 mostly minority Shiites ...

Worldwide, 144 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, in contrast with 55 retentionist countries. “There are prisoners of conscience on Saudi death row,” the group said in a statement, “and others arrested as children or charged with non-violent crimes. CBS News reports that people sentenced to death are typically beheaded in Saudi Arabia. It did not specify the charges in each case but acknowledged that they included nonhomicide offenses like “pledging allegiance” to foreign terrorist organizations and traveling to conflict zones. Human rights groups have widely condemned the executions, which follow Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s promises to reform the country’s criminal legal system and limit its use of capital punishment. In a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the government did not identify the 81 individuals executed and did not say where or how they were put to death.

Saudi Arabia: Mass Execution of 81 Men (Human Rights Watch)

Saudi authorities' execution of 81 men on March 12, 2022 was its largest mass execution in years despite recent promises to curtail its use of the death ...

While these initiatives can be used for beneficial purposes, Saudi Arabia is using these government-funded events with celebrities, artists, and athletes to whitewash its poor human rights record and deflect efforts to hold its leadership accountable for these abuses, Human Rights Watch said. As part of legal reforms announced on February 8, 2021, the country’s first written penal code for discretionary crimes – crimes under Islamic law that have not been defined in writing and that do not carry predetermined punishments – is being prepared, though apparently without any consultation with civil society. In 2020, Saudi authorities restated a 2018 legal change halting the death penalty for alleged child offenders for certain crimes, though prosecutors can – and still do – seek the death penalty against child offenders for crimes such as murder. Human Rights Watch has documented rampant due process violations in the court and criminal justice system against defendants in criminal cases. Rampant and systemic abuses in Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system suggest it is highly unlikely that any of the men received a fair trial. Human Rights Watch has also repeatedly criticized Saudi courts’ reliance on torture-tainted confessions as the sole basis of conviction in certain cases.

UN human rights chief condemns Saudi Arabia's mass execution of ... (The Times of Israel)

Bachelet says executions may be related to the ongoing conflict against Iran-backed Houthis and to attempts to silence 'freedom of expression and peaceful ...

Every day, our journalists aim to keep you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that among those beheaded, 41 belonged to the Shiite minority, and had taken part in anti-government protests in 2011-2012. “I call on the Saudi authorities to halt all executions, immediately establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and commute the death sentences against those on death row,” Bachelet said.

Saudi Arabia executes 81 people in its largest mass execution (unknown)

Saudi Arabia said it had executed a record 81 people in one day, exceeding the total number killed last year and sparking criticism from rights activists.

Or if someone threatens the life of many people, that means he has to be punished by the death penalty." Shiites, who live primarily in the kingdom's oil-rich east, have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens. A two-week siege that followed ended with an official death toll of 229 killed. It also publicly nailed the severed body and head of a convicted extremist to a pole as a warning to others. It did not say how the prisoners were executed, though death-row inmates typically are beheaded in Saudi Arabia. Executions of Shiites in the past have stirred regional unrest. Such crucifixions after execution, while rare, do occur in the kingdom. A Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Iran-backed Houthis since 2015 in neighboring Yemen in an effort to restore the internationally recognized government to power. The 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque remains a crucial moment in the history of the oil-rich kingdom. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly plans a trip to Saudi Arabia next week over oil prices as well. In 2019, the kingdom beheaded 37 Saudi citizens, most of them minority Shiites, in a mass execution across the country for alleged terrorism-related crimes. The kingdom also said some of those executed were members of al-Qaida, the Islamic State group and also backers of Yemen's Houthi rebels.

UN rights chief decries mass execution of 81 people in Saudi Arabia (unknown)

The UN human rights chief has condemned the beheading of 81 people by Saudi Arabia during the course of a single day, charged with terrorism-related ...

“Authorities should return the bodies of those executed to their families”, underscored the top UN human rights official. She said that failure to provide relatives with information on the circumstances of their loved ones’ executions “may amount to torture and ill-treatment”. Moreover, the death penalty is “incompatible with fundamental tenets of human rights and dignity, the right to life and the prohibition of torture”.

Explained: Why a new wave of executions in Saudi Arabia has ... (The Indian Express)

Saudi Arabia recently executed 81 people, including seven Yemenis and one Syrian national, prompting the Iranian government to suspend talks with the ...

Similarly, Iran supported pro-democracy protests in Shia-majority Bahrain in 2011, whereas Saudi Arabia sent its troops to help the regime of King Hamad to quell them. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have been sour in part because of religious differences, which go back centuries. But with the revolution in Iran, an alternative type of state was created. About the recent 81 executions, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said that all the sentences involved those convicted under charges of terrorism and capital crimes. In a short update, the news website said that Iran has unilaterally decided to suspend talks with Saudi Arabia for some time. According to the British non-profit Reprieve, Saudi Arabia has carried out more than 800 executions so far.

U.S. Declines to Comment if It Communicated With Saudi Arabia ... (U.S. News & World Report)

Saudi Arabia executed 81 men including seven Yemenis and one Syrian on Saturday in the kingdom's biggest mass execution in decades. "We are continuing to raise ...

"Can't speak to the timing of that (communication) but we have raised these (human rights) concerns." WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said it continues to raise human rights concerns with Saudi Arabia about fair trial guarantees but declined to comment if Washington has communicated with Riyadh in the aftermath of mass executions in the kingdom on Saturday. Saudi Arabia executed 81 men including seven Yemenis and one Syrian on Saturday in the kingdom's biggest mass execution in decades.