Executions in Saudi Arabia have almost doubled under the reign of King Salman and his son Mohammed, de facto ruler of the kingdom, according to two human rights organizations which mention in particular cases of torture.
The number of executions in the Gulf monarchy has risen from an average of 70.8 per year between 2010 and 2014 to 129.5 per year since the current king came to power in 2015, report says published on Tuesday by the British organization Reprieve and the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR).
In total, the current power has applied more than 1,000 death sentences, according to these NGOs, which claim to have cross-checked official figures with investigations and interviews conducted with lawyers, family members and activists.
The report mentions 147 executions last year, a tally consistent with the count made by AFP from government announcements.
Last March, Saudi Arabia, one of the countries with the highest use of the death penalty, announced the execution of 81 people in a single day for crimes related to terrorism, sparking an international outcry.
The ultra-conservative kingdom has undergone major reforms in recent years under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
But these reforms have been accompanied by a relentless crackdown on political dissent, according to human rights activists.
Saudi Arabia’s ‘capital punishment machine’ grinds up children, protesters, vulnerable female servants, unwitting drug mules, and people whose only ‘crime’ is possessing banned books or talking to foreign journalists “, denounced Maya Foa, the director of Reprieve.
“Bloody Path”
Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last March to the American review The Atlantic that the kingdom had ‘got rid’ of the death penalty, except for cases of murder or when the accused ‘threatens the lives of many people’, according to the transcript of the interview published by Saudi state media .
However, according to the report published on Tuesday, the six bloodiest years in terms of executions in the country’s recent history have all occurred under the current regime.
“This bloody path is taken by the Saudi authorities for purposes of intimidation and political repression,” reacted Taha al-Hajji, legal director of ESOHR.
“Reports on secret executions since the end of 2022 are extremely worrying,” he added.
Since 2013, at least 15 people have been put to death for crimes committed when they were minors, including 11 after 2015.
The last case recorded is that of Mustafa al-Darwish, executed in June 2021. Born on September 19, 1994, the young man was arrested in 2015 and sentenced for his alleged participation in demonstrations when he was 17 years old.
The authorities executed him without “notifying his family, who learned of his death on the news”, the report said.
In addition to minors, 31 women were executed between 2010 and 2021, including 23 foreigners and 13 domestic workers.
Among them, the Indonesian Tuti Tursilawati, who was “sentenced to death for having killed her employer when he tried to rape her, after a long period of sexual violence”, indicates the report.
“On October 29, 2018, after eight years of imprisonment, Tuti was executed by beheading.”
The 58-page document also speaks of “systemic” torture and procedural violations, including cases of unfair trials and child torture.