An international human rights organization has expressed grave concern over the alarming surge in executions in Saudi Arabia in the first half of the current year, saying the figure is almost twice the number during all of last year.
Faraan: The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) said executions in the oil-rich Persian Gulf kingdom jumped to 120 during this period, with the country poised to surpass its record of executions in 2019, the Arabic-language Arabi 21 online newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The new statistics fly in the face of commitments given by Saudi authorities to curb the use of capital punishments, amid global anger and outrage. Last year, a total of 65 people were executed in the kingdom, a slight drop from the previous year, which ESOHR attributed partially to coronavirus restrictions. “If Saudi Arabia continues to execute people at the same rate during the second half of 2022, then it will exceed the record of 186 executions in 2019,” the ESOHR said.
The UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial summary or arbitrary executions calls on Saudi officials to halt the imminent execution of two Bahraini men accused of trumped-up terrorism-related crimes. The group also found breaches of fair trial standards in multiple cases, saying it raises questions about the fairness of the process for death penalty trials in general in the country.
The ESOHR also said it identified the use of torture and revealed how those accused do not have access to a lawyer before court sessions begin, making it harder for them to fight their cases. Some of those sentenced to death are facing execution for matters related to participation in pro-democracy protests and expression of views, it said. Saudi Press Agency, a state-run news agency, said on March 12 that authorities had executed 81 people in one day for different offenses. Of the 81 people, 73 were Saudi citizens, seven were Yemeni and one was a Syrian national.
Saudi authorities execute two young men from the Qatif region in the kingdom’s oil-rich and Shia-populated Eastern Province.
In January 2016, Saudi authorities executed 47 people, including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, who was a vociferous advocate of democracy in the kingdom and backed anti-regime protests. Nimr had been arrested in Qatif, Eastern Province, in 2012. Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed more than 900 prisoners, stirring up global outrage. In 2019 alone, authorities in the country admitted to executing 184 people, despite a low number of executions around the world.
Meanwhile, several human rights organizations, including the Human Rights Foundation, the Freedom Initiative, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights and ALQST for Human Rights, have condemned the ruling against Saudi women’s rights defender Salma al-Shehab, and called for her release. “We call on Saudi authorities to free Salma, allowing her to return to care for her children and to complete her studies safely in the United Kingdom,” the Freedom Initiative, a Washington-based human rights organization, said in a statement.
