While attention is focused on the World Cup, Saudi Arabia is allegedly killing 12 individuals. Despite the Crown Prince’s pledge to restrict the use of the death penalty, the kingdom is alleged to have executed 12 prisoners in just 10 days.
The defendants were imprisoned for non-violent drug offenses before receiving a death sentence, according to the human rights organization Reprieve.
Maya Foa, the organization’s director, has expressed concern that there may soon be 13 fatalities.
They drew attention to the situation of Saudi prisoner and taxi driver Hussein Abo al-Kheir, who is scheduled to be executed.
Foa stated: “Taxi driver Hussein Abo al-Kheir was cowering while Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) was taking center stage at the World Cup opening ceremony, sitting next to Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
“While all eyes are on the football, Saudi Arabia is carrying out a horrifying execution spree, killing people like Hussein, an innocent man who was tortured by Saudi police to ‘confess’.
“Saudi Arabia executed more people than ever before in the first six months of this year, and has now begun executing drug offenders, in large numbers and in secret, as the world focuses on its neighbour.”
According to the non-profit organisation, which gathered data on this week’s executions, most of the defendants were beheaded with a sword.
Three of the men executed were Pakistani, four Syrian, two Jordanian and three Saudi, Reprieve said.
Another man from Jordan was reportedly transferred to a prison wing and is due to be executed on Friday, the NGO added.
The latest figures bring the total number of people executed in Saudi Arabia this year to at least 132 – which is more than the number of Saudi executions in 2020 and 2021 combined.
The country’s legal system was criticized by the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights in August, stating it had broken agreements to lessen torture and deaths in its prison system.
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81 convicts were beheaded in a mass execution on March 12; more than 70% of the victims were executed for their involvement in non-fatal crimes, the group said in its report.
41 men, or more than 50% of those killed, were killed because they participated in pro-democracy demonstrations.
The Saudi government labeled the men “terrorists” to defend the murders.
At least three of the men, according to the ESOHR, gave credible accounts of being tortured and having their confessions coerced.
About Author
- Tijani Pepper is a news reporter at Panel News, and gistreportar. He is a passionate journalist in Politics, Sports development and investigative journalism.
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