Saudi Arabia Executes 37 Citizens
RIYADH (Dispatches) – Saudi Arabia executed on Tuesday 37 citizens convicted in "terror cases”, the Ministry of Interior said.
The official Saudi Press Agency quoted the ministry as saying in a statement that the executions were carried out in the capital Riyadh, as well as in Mecca, Medina, Eastern Province and Asir region.
It claimed the executed were convicted of charges related to "forming terror cells, promoting sedition and sectarianism, security disturbance, attacking security buildings with Molotov cocktails, and killing police personnel.”
Saudi Arabia is one of the top executioners in the world, with more than 2,000 people executed between 1985 and 2016.
Suspects convicted of terrorism, homicide, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking face death penalty.
Saudi Arabia carried out 153 executions across the kingdom in 2016. In the most stunning case of executions, Saudi Arabia executed on January 2 that year Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr along 46 other people in defiance of international calls for the release of the prominent Shia cleric.
Saudi Arabia carried out 158 executions, including 71 foreign nationals, in 2015.
According to the London-based rights group Amnesty International, many people in Saudi Arabia are sentenced to death and executed following seriously flawed court proceedings that routinely fall far short of international fair trial standards.
It added that the defendants are often convicted solely on the basis of "confessions” obtained under torture and other ill-treatment, denied legal representation in trials which are held in secret, and are not kept informed of the progress of the legal proceedings in their case.
The official Saudi Press Agency quoted the ministry as saying in a statement that the executions were carried out in the capital Riyadh, as well as in Mecca, Medina, Eastern Province and Asir region.
It claimed the executed were convicted of charges related to "forming terror cells, promoting sedition and sectarianism, security disturbance, attacking security buildings with Molotov cocktails, and killing police personnel.”
Saudi Arabia is one of the top executioners in the world, with more than 2,000 people executed between 1985 and 2016.
Suspects convicted of terrorism, homicide, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking face death penalty.
Saudi Arabia carried out 153 executions across the kingdom in 2016. In the most stunning case of executions, Saudi Arabia executed on January 2 that year Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr along 46 other people in defiance of international calls for the release of the prominent Shia cleric.
Saudi Arabia carried out 158 executions, including 71 foreign nationals, in 2015.
According to the London-based rights group Amnesty International, many people in Saudi Arabia are sentenced to death and executed following seriously flawed court proceedings that routinely fall far short of international fair trial standards.
It added that the defendants are often convicted solely on the basis of "confessions” obtained under torture and other ill-treatment, denied legal representation in trials which are held in secret, and are not kept informed of the progress of the legal proceedings in their case.