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A US Hasidic Jewish man walks previous a gate painted within the Saudi flag, exhibiting a sword beneath the Islamic Shahada (the creed stating a perception in a single god and the acceptance that Mohammed was God’s prophet), in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on November 30, 2021. AFP FILE PHOTO
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia mentioned Saturday it had executed a file 81 individuals in sooner or later for terrorism-related offences, exceeding the entire quantity killed final 12 months and sparking criticism from rights activists.
All had been “discovered responsible of committing a number of heinous crimes”, the official Saudi Press Company (SPA) reported, saying they included convicts linked to the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda, Yemen’s Huthi insurgent forces or “different terrorist organisations”.
The rich Gulf nation has one of many world’s highest execution charges, and has typically carried out earlier demise sentences by beheading.
These executed had been sentenced over plotting assaults within the kingdom — together with killing “a big quantity” of civilians and members of the safety forces, the SPA assertion learn.
“Additionally they embrace convictions for focusing on authorities personnel and very important financial websites, the killing of legislation enforcement officers and maiming their our bodies, and planting land mines to focus on police autos,” the SPA mentioned.
“The convictions embrace crimes of kidnapping, torture, rape, smuggling arms and bombs into the dominion,” it added.
Of the 81 individuals killed, 73 had been Saudi residents, seven had been Yemeni and one was a Syrian nationwide.
‘Strict and unwavering stance’
SPA mentioned all these executed had been tried in Saudi courts, with trials overseen by 13 judges, held over three separate phases for every particular person.
“The dominion will proceed to take a strict and unwavering stance towards terrorism and extremist ideologies that threaten stability,” the information company added.
Saudi Arabia has been the goal of a collection of lethal shootings and bombings since late 2014 carried out by IS group extremists.
The dominion can be main a navy coalition that has been combating in Yemen since 2015 towards Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who’ve in flip launched strikes on Saudi Arabia.
However the executions sparked condemnation from Britain-based marketing campaign group Reprieve.
“Simply final week the Crown Prince (Mohammed bin Salman) informed journalists he plans to modernise Saudi Arabia’s legal justice system, solely to order the biggest mass execution within the nation’s historical past,” Reprieve mentioned.
“There are prisoners of conscience on Saudi demise row, and others arrested as kids or charged with non-violent crimes. We concern for each one among them following this brutal show of impunity.”
Saturday’s announcement of 81 deaths marks greater than the entire of 69 executions in all of 2021.
Up till Saturday, Saudi Arabia in 2022 had executed 11 individuals convicted of varied crimes, in accordance with an AFP tally based mostly on official announcement. This brings the entire executed up to now this 12 months to 92.
Round 50 nations worldwide proceed to make use of the demise penalty.
In 2020, 88 p.c of all 483 reported executions came about in simply 4 nations: Iran, with 246, adopted by Egypt with 107, Iraq with 45, after which Saudi Arabia, which carried out 27 that 12 months, in accordance with Amnesty Worldwide.
Dying row for teenage crime
The executions on Saturday had been introduced a day after the discharge of Saudi blogger and human rights activist Raif Badawi, who had been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years’ jail on expenses of insulting Islam.
However Badawi, who obtained solely 50 lashes earlier than the punishment was halted following world condemnation, is now topic to a 10-year journey ban, officers confirmed to AFP on Saturday.
It means the 38-year-old is unable to rejoin his spouse Ensaf Haidar and their three kids in Canada, the place they fled following his arrest.
In recent times, Saudi has introduced a collection of reforms regarding sentences, together with a moratorium on the demise penalty for drug offences, in addition to abolishing court-ordered floggings.
In April 2020, the dominion additionally introduced it was ending the demise penalty for these convicted of crimes dedicated once they had been beneath 18.
On Saturday, a rights group and kinfolk of a Saudi man sentenced to demise when he was a minor mentioned he had been taken to hospital after occurring starvation strike and collapsing.
Abdullah al-Howaiti, who was simply 14 when he was arrested in 2017 on expenses of armed theft and killing a police officer, was first sentenced to demise in 2019, with the decision upheld final month in a retrial.
“Abdullah has gone on starvation strike and has been hospitalised after collapsing,” Reprieve mentioned.
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