Amnesty International has strongly condemned the mass execution of 37 men who were convicted on “terrorism” charges in Saudi Arabia today.
According to details, 11 out of 37 men were convicted of spying for Iran and sentenced to death after an unfair trial. 14 others were accused of involvement in violent offenses related to their participation in Anti-government protests in the country's Shia majority province in 2011 and 2012. These 14 men were put into detention for a long period and were tortured during the investigation. All of the men executed were Saudi nationals.
However, it has been revealed that most of the men who were executed by the Saudi government were Shia and was convicted after sham trials that violated international fair trial standards.
Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, Lynn Maalouf, stated “Today’s mass execution is a chilling demonstration of the Saudi Arabian authorities callous disregard for human life. It is also yet another gruesome indication of how the death penalty is being used as a political tool to crush dissent from within the country’s Shia minority.”
Maalouf said that the use of capital punishment is always shocking but it is even more horrible when it is applied without a fair trial or against people who were not even 18 at the time of the crime which is an obvious violation of international law.
One of the men named Abdul Kareem Al-Hawai was only 16 when arrested and was convicted due to his involvement in anti-government demonstrations.
She further demanded that the Saudi government must stop this bloody execution immediately and put a ban on executions as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty completely.
Since 2018, the Saudi government has executed at least 253 people mostly due to drug-related crimes. And out of them at least 44 were foreign nationals.
However, there 3 more men from the Shia minority named Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher are still at risk of execution.
According to details, 11 out of 37 men were convicted of spying for Iran and sentenced to death after an unfair trial. 14 others were accused of involvement in violent offenses related to their participation in Anti-government protests in the country's Shia majority province in 2011 and 2012. These 14 men were put into detention for a long period and were tortured during the investigation. All of the men executed were Saudi nationals.
However, it has been revealed that most of the men who were executed by the Saudi government were Shia and was convicted after sham trials that violated international fair trial standards.
Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, Lynn Maalouf, stated “Today’s mass execution is a chilling demonstration of the Saudi Arabian authorities callous disregard for human life. It is also yet another gruesome indication of how the death penalty is being used as a political tool to crush dissent from within the country’s Shia minority.”
Maalouf said that the use of capital punishment is always shocking but it is even more horrible when it is applied without a fair trial or against people who were not even 18 at the time of the crime which is an obvious violation of international law.
One of the men named Abdul Kareem Al-Hawai was only 16 when arrested and was convicted due to his involvement in anti-government demonstrations.
She further demanded that the Saudi government must stop this bloody execution immediately and put a ban on executions as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty completely.
Since 2018, the Saudi government has executed at least 253 people mostly due to drug-related crimes. And out of them at least 44 were foreign nationals.
However, there 3 more men from the Shia minority named Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher are still at risk of execution.