RIYADH —
Saudi Arabia said Saturday it executed a record 81 people in one day for a variety of
terrorism-related offences, exceeding the total number it sentenced to death in
total last year.
اضافة اعلان
All had been "found guilty of
committing multiple heinous crimes", the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA)
reported, saying they included convicts linked to Daesh, or
to Al-Qaeda, Yemen's
Huthi rebel forces or "other terrorist organizations".
Those executed had been plotting attacks in
the kingdom — including killing "a large number" of civilians and
members of the security forces, the SPA statement read.
"They also include convictions for
targeting government personnel and vital economic sites, the killing of law
enforcement officers and maiming their bodies, and planting land mines to
target police vehicles," the SPA said.
"The convictions include crimes of
kidnapping, torture, rape, smuggling arms and bombs into the kingdom," it
added.
Of the 81 people killed — the kingdom's
highest number of recorded executions in one day — 73 were Saudi citizens,
seven were Yemeni, and one was a Syrian national.
SPA said all those executed were tried in
Saudi courts, with trials overseen by 13 judges, held over three separate
stages for each individual.
"The kingdom will continue to take a
strict and unwavering stance against terrorism and extremist ideologies that
threaten stability," the report by SPA added.
The wealthy
Gulf country has one of the
world's highest execution rates, and has often carried out previous death
sentences by beheading.
Record number of executions
Saudi has been the target of a series of
deadly shootings and bombings since late 2014 carried out
Daesh fighters.
Saudi Arabia is also leading a military
coalition that has been fighting in Yemen since 2015 to support the government
against Iran-backed Huthi rebels, and who have launched strikes in return on
the kingdom.
Saturday's announcement of 81 deaths marks
more than the total of 69 executions in all of 2021.
Around 50 countries worldwide continue to
use the death penalty.
In 2020, 88 percent of all 483 reported
executions took place in just four countries: Iran, with 246, followed by
Egypt with 107, Iraq with 45, and then Saudi Arabia, who carried out 27 that year,
according to Amnesty International.
The executions on Saturday were announced a
day after the release of Saudi blogger and human rights activist Raif Badawi,
who had been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years' prison on charges of
insulting Islam.
But Badawi, who received only 50 lashes
before the punishment was halted following global condemnation, is now subject
to a 10-year travel ban, officials confirmed to AFP on Saturday.
It means the 38-year-old is unable to rejoin
his wife Ensaf Haidar and their three children in Canada, where they fled
following his arrest.
Read more Region and World
.jpg)
.jpg)
