DUBAI: Execution in Saudi Arab has almost doubled under King Salman and his son, the de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salmanactivist groups said Tuesday, detailing cases of torture and other cases human rights violate.
death penalty has increased from an average of 70.8 executions per year between 2010 and 2014, to 129.5 per year since King Salman came to power in 2015, according to a report by Reprieve and the Human Rights Foundation Europe (ESOHR).
More than 1,000 death sentences have been carried out under the current leadership, the NGO said, after verifying the official announcements with investigations and interviews with lawyers and family members. and activists.
Saudi Arabia executed 147 people last year, the report said, a number confirmed by AFP compiled from government announcements.
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s top execution countries, announced 81 executions in a single day in March last year that it said were terrorism-related crimes.
The country has undergone rapid social reforms in recent years but activists allege Crown Prince Mohammed also oversaw a harsh crackdown on critics.
Reprieve director Maya Foa said: “Every data point in this report is a human life that has been taken.
“Saudi Arabia’s death machine devours children, protesters, vulnerable women in domestic service, unwitting drug mules and those whose sole ‘crime’ is the possessing banned books or talking to foreign journalists.”
Crown Prince Mohammed said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine that the kingdom had “escaped” the death penalty except in cases of murder or when someone “threatened the lives of many people,” according to a table. The score was published by state media last March. .
But the six bloodiest years for executions in recent Saudi history all happened under current leadership, Tuesday’s report said.
“This bloody path is being taken by the Saudi authorities for the purpose of political intimidation and repression,” said Taha al-Hajji, legal director of ESOHR.
“Reports of secret executions since late 2022 are extremely disturbing.”
Since 2013, at least 15 people have been executed for juvenile crimes. Eleven of the 15 executions were carried out after 2015.
The last known child defendant was Mustafa al-Darwish in June 2021.
Born on September 19, 1994, al-Darwish was arrested in 2015 and later charged in connection with alleged participation in protests at the age of 17.
He was executed “without any warning to his family, who learned of his death,” the report said.
In addition to minors, at least 31 women were executed between 2010 and 2021, of which 23 were foreign nationals and 13 were domestic workers.
They include Tuti Tursilawati, an Indonesian domestic worker who was “convicted of murder and sentenced to death after she killed her employer when he attempted to rape her, following a long period of sexual abuse education,” the report said.
“On October 29, 2018, after eight years in prison, Tuti was executed by beheading”.
The 58-page document also alleges “systematic” torture and violations of due process, including cases of unfair trial and torture of child and women defendants.
death penalty has increased from an average of 70.8 executions per year between 2010 and 2014, to 129.5 per year since King Salman came to power in 2015, according to a report by Reprieve and the Human Rights Foundation Europe (ESOHR).
More than 1,000 death sentences have been carried out under the current leadership, the NGO said, after verifying the official announcements with investigations and interviews with lawyers and family members. and activists.
Saudi Arabia executed 147 people last year, the report said, a number confirmed by AFP compiled from government announcements.
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s top execution countries, announced 81 executions in a single day in March last year that it said were terrorism-related crimes.
The country has undergone rapid social reforms in recent years but activists allege Crown Prince Mohammed also oversaw a harsh crackdown on critics.
Reprieve director Maya Foa said: “Every data point in this report is a human life that has been taken.
“Saudi Arabia’s death machine devours children, protesters, vulnerable women in domestic service, unwitting drug mules and those whose sole ‘crime’ is the possessing banned books or talking to foreign journalists.”
Crown Prince Mohammed said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine that the kingdom had “escaped” the death penalty except in cases of murder or when someone “threatened the lives of many people,” according to a table. The score was published by state media last March. .
But the six bloodiest years for executions in recent Saudi history all happened under current leadership, Tuesday’s report said.
“This bloody path is being taken by the Saudi authorities for the purpose of political intimidation and repression,” said Taha al-Hajji, legal director of ESOHR.
“Reports of secret executions since late 2022 are extremely disturbing.”
Since 2013, at least 15 people have been executed for juvenile crimes. Eleven of the 15 executions were carried out after 2015.
The last known child defendant was Mustafa al-Darwish in June 2021.
Born on September 19, 1994, al-Darwish was arrested in 2015 and later charged in connection with alleged participation in protests at the age of 17.
He was executed “without any warning to his family, who learned of his death,” the report said.
In addition to minors, at least 31 women were executed between 2010 and 2021, of which 23 were foreign nationals and 13 were domestic workers.
They include Tuti Tursilawati, an Indonesian domestic worker who was “convicted of murder and sentenced to death after she killed her employer when he attempted to rape her, following a long period of sexual abuse education,” the report said.
“On October 29, 2018, after eight years in prison, Tuti was executed by beheading”.
The 58-page document also alleges “systematic” torture and violations of due process, including cases of unfair trial and torture of child and women defendants.
