Executions in Saudi Arabia rose significantly in the first eight months after Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) became deputy crown prince, according to a human rights organization. RNA - According to Reprieve, 133 people were executed between June 2017 and March 2018, nearly twice as many as the 67 recorded during the eight months before his rise to power, Anadolu news agency reported.
Saudi Arabia has executed 147 people in 2018 and around 700 people since 2014. Almost half of those who received capital punishment were foreign nationals, according to Reprieve’s report.
They included Indonesian housekeeper Tuti Tursilawati, who was executed after being sentenced to death for the murder of her boss, despite her claiming that she had acted in self-defense after he tried to rape her. The report criticized Saudi Arabia for ignoring international conventions as it had refused to notify Tursilawati’s family and Indonesian officials before her execution.
The report also noted that 39 percent of those executed were sentenced to death due to drug-related crimes, with the number totaling 246 since 2014.
Reprieve’s report said Saudi Arabia came under international focus following the murder in October of journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Turkish city of Istanbul, adding that at least 54 people are facing death sentences for opposing the government.
“Despite promises of reform from the crown prince, the kingdom is executing drug offenders at an alarmingly high rate, and at least 30 people --- including some arrested as teenagers --- face imminent execution for exercising their democratic rights,” Reprieve’s Director Maya Foa stated, adding that “Jamal Khashoggi’s murder exposed the brutality of Saudi Arabia’s rulers to the world".
“Now the kingdom must be held to account for its use of the death penalty as political prisoners and vulnerable economic migrants await the executioner’s blade,” Foa stressed.
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