RIYADH (Dispatches) – The Saudi Interior Ministry has announced that it had carried out the death penalty against Ahmed al-Badr, who is a Shia in the east of the country, making him the fourth detainee to be executed in less than 24 hours.
The ministry alleged that al-Badr was found guilty of “communicating with an enemy country, leaving the kingdom illegally, and joining one of that country’s [training] camps.”
He was also accused of “receiving training in weapons and bombs, returning to the kingdom and covering up those who had smuggled him and his companions to receive military training, possessing weapons, and smuggling other weapons to implement his terrorist plan to breach the kingdom’s security,” according to the same source.
The charges are very similar to those attributed to the three young men whom the Saudi authorities executed on Monday.
The Saudi Ministry of Interior alleged in a statement on Monday that the death sentences were carried out against Hassan bin Issa Al Muhanna, Haider bin Hassan Muwais and Muhammad bin Ibrahim Muwais.
Back on May 9, Saudi authorities executed Anwar bin Jaafar bin Mahdi al-Alawi, a Saudi national from the Eastern Province, on charges of “attacking a police station, aiding and harboring a man wanted on security charges and possessing ammunition.”
Alawi was found guilty by a criminal court and a royal order was issued to carry out the death sentence.
Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich and predominantly Shia Eastern Province has been the scene of peaceful demonstrations since February 2011. Protesters have been demanding reforms, freedom of expression, the release of political prisoners, and an end to economic and religious discrimination against the region.
The protests have faced a heavy-handed crackdown, with regime forces increasing security measures across the province.
Ever since Mohammed bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has ramped up arrests of activists, bloggers, intellectuals, and others perceived as political opponents, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnations of the crackdown.
As a result, Muslim scholars have been executed and women’s rights campaigners have been put behind bars and tortured as freedoms of expression, association, and belief continue to be denied.