NOVANEWS
Saudi Arabia beheaded three on Wednesday convicted of rape and murder, the interior ministry said, bringing to 21 the number of foreigners and locals executed in the kingdom this year.
The three were all Saudis.
Abdul Kareem bin Abdul Sattar Meezi and Hashim bin Abdo Mahragi had been convicted of kidnapping and raping a girl and were executed in Mecca, the ministry said.
“The interior ministry confirms that it is determined to maintain security, serve justice and implement the provisions of God on all those who attack the innocent, shed blood or cause disgrace,” it said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
Separately, another Saudi, Mohammed bin Ouda bin Naji al-Inzi, was beheaded in the northwestern Jawf region after being convicted of a fatal shooting, the ministry said.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the country’s strict version of Islamic sharia law.
Saudi Arabia has faced constant international criticism over its human rights record, including the use of the death penalty. In September, an independent expert working on behalf of the United Nations called for an immediate moratorium on executions in the oil-rich kingdom.
The kingdom executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013, according to an AFP tally.
Amnesty International claimed in a report that more than 2,000 people were executed in the Gulf state between 1985 and 2013.
According to Amnesty, trials in capital cases are often held in secret.
Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, said the fact “that people are tortured into confessing to crimes, convicted in shameful trials without adequate legal support and then executed is a sickening indictment of the Kingdom’s state-sanctioned brutality.”
Abdul Kareem bin Abdul Sattar Meezi and Hashim bin Abdo Mahragi had been convicted of kidnapping and raping a girl and were executed in Mecca, the ministry said.
“The interior ministry confirms that it is determined to maintain security, serve justice and implement the provisions of God on all those who attack the innocent, shed blood or cause disgrace,” it said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
Separately, another Saudi, Mohammed bin Ouda bin Naji al-Inzi, was beheaded in the northwestern Jawf region after being convicted of a fatal shooting, the ministry said.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the country’s strict version of Islamic sharia law.
Saudi Arabia has faced constant international criticism over its human rights record, including the use of the death penalty. In September, an independent expert working on behalf of the United Nations called for an immediate moratorium on executions in the oil-rich kingdom.
The kingdom executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013, according to an AFP tally.
Amnesty International claimed in a report that more than 2,000 people were executed in the Gulf state between 1985 and 2013.
According to Amnesty, trials in capital cases are often held in secret.
Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, said the fact “that people are tortured into confessing to crimes, convicted in shameful trials without adequate legal support and then executed is a sickening indictment of the Kingdom’s state-sanctioned brutality.”
