Saudi Arabia beheads three more nationals

Saudi Arabia has beheaded three more of its own nationals, bringing to 107 the number of such executions in the kingdom so far this year.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency on Wednesday that one of the men, identified as Turki al-Diaini was executed in the capital Riyadh, while Sharie al-Jineibi was put to death in the southwestern Asir region.

The third one, Mansour al-Roali, was also beheaded in the northwestern region of Jawf, the statement added. 

Diani and Jineibi were convicted of murder, while Roali was executed for drug trafficking.

The latest beheadings bring to at least 107 the number of the people executed across the kingdom so far in 2015. 

Concern is growing about the increasing number of executions in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom has seen a surge in executions this year. According to AFP tallies, the number of Saudi nationals and foreigners beheaded this year is up 123 percent, from 87 percent in 2014.

In May, Saudi Arabia started advertising for eight new head choppers and executioners to deal with the escalating number of death sentences being issued in the country.

A significant number of foreign nationals and workers have been beheaded in the kingdom in recent months, triggering an outcry from human rights organizations. 

On April 16, Saudi Arabia beheaded an Indonesian female domestic worker, just two days after executing another woman from the Southeast Asian country. 

In January, Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded Laila Bint Abdul Muttalib Basim, a Muslim woman from Myanmar, by sword in the holy city of Mecca. 

A secretly-filmed footage of the execution showed Basim being dragged into a street and held down by four police officers. 

“I did not kill, I did not kill,” she was heard shouting repeatedly. 

Basim then screamed as a sword-wielding man struck her neck. Second and third blows completed the beheading and authorities swiftly removed her body from the road. 

The Britain-based rights group Amnesty International says Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world.

Meanwhile, the New York- based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has blamed the Saudi regime for waging a “campaign of death” by executing more people in the first six months of this year than all of 2014.

The HRW insisted that it had documented “due process violations” in the legal system. The right group added that it is difficult for defendants to receive fair trials even in capital cases across Saudi Arabia. 

Muslim scholars have also slammed Riyadh for indicting and then executing suspects without giving them a chance to defend themselves, describing the Saudi authorities as uncivilized.

Saudi authorities execute convicts by sword. There have also been reports of beheaded bodies being dangled from a helicopter for public deterrence.

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