News / Saudi Arabia

Executing seven, Saudi Arabia brings 2017 beheading toll to 130

Tuesday, 28 November 2017 2:21 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 28 November 2017 2:39 PM ]

The file photo shows a public beheading event in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has executed six Yemeni men and a Saudi man, bringing to 130 the total number of the people beheaded by the kingdom since the beginning of the year.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement cited by the SPA news agency on Tuesday that the Yemenis were executed in Abha, the capital of the southern province of Assir.

According to the statement, the Yemeni men were convicted of murder and robbery in three separate attacks on homes in Assir.

The ministry added that the seventh convict, a Saudi national, was executed in the northern city of Tabuk after being convicted of smuggling pills.

The figure 130 is according to data compiled by AFP.

In Saudi Arabia, convicts are executed by sword and their corpses are then dangled from a helicopter to make sure the public could see the result of the execution.

Concern is growing about the increasing number of executions in Saudi Arabia. Authorities say the executions reveal the government’s commitment to what is described as maintaining security and realizing justice.

The kingdom has come under particular criticism from rights groups for the executions carried out for non-fatal crimes.

Amnesty International says Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world. It argues that Saudi Arabia uses the death penalty as a means to silence the Shia dissent.

Human Rights Watch has also called on the Saudi regime to abolish its “ghastly” beheading processions.

In July, Amnesty called on Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of 14 individuals who were sentenced to death following a “grossly unfair mass trial” as part of the kingdom’s “bloody execution spree.”