Seventy-three Saudis, seven Yemenis and one Syrian. Saudi Arabia executed, in a single day, Saturday, March 12, 81 people sentenced to death for crimes related to the “terrorism”. This unprecedented number exceeds that of all death sentences applied in the kingdom in 2021.
The people executed “have been found guilty of committing multiple heinous crimes” in the country, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. Among them, men linked to the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS), the Al-Qaeda network and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the agency said. They had been sentenced to death for having “attacked places of worship, government buildings and facilities vital to the country’s economy”and for “crimes of kidnapping, torture, rape and arms smuggling”again according to SPA. “These crimes have resulted in a large number of deaths among civilians and law enforcement”she added.
Executions in Saudi Arabia are usually carried out by beheading.
One of the highest execution rates in the world
For several years, the kingdom has been targeted by a series of deadly attacks perpetrated by IS. He is also the target of Houthi attacks from neighboring Yemen at war. Riyadh has supported the Yemeni government against the Houthis since 2015.
“The kingdom will continue to take a strict and unwavering stance against terrorism and extremist ideologies that threaten the stability of the whole world”reported the agency SPA.
Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world, with 69 people killed in 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official statements. This absolute monarchy has been endowed since 1992 with a Basic Law – assimilated to a Constitution – based on Sharia, Islamic law. Homicide, rape, armed robbery, witchcraft, adultery, sodomy, homosexuality and apostasy are punishable by death in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
In 2020, Saudi Arabia announced it was ending capital punishment for people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18.
The executions announced on Saturday come a day after the release of blogger and human rights activist Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for advocating for an end to the influence of religion on public life in Saudi Arabia.
His sentence served, the former winner of the Reporters Without Borders prize for freedom of the press, aged 38, is however subject to a ban on leaving Saudi territory for the next ten years.
