In Saudi Arabia, 81 people were beheaded in a single day, Saturday March 12. In the crash of Russian bombs, this macabre record went relatively unnoticed. The eyes of the whole world are on Ukraine and yet the kingdom has never executed so many prisoners simultaneously.
These prisoners were accused of belonging to terrorist groups or of being responsible for heinous crimes under legislation that was as repressive as it was vague. Half of those sentenced to death were Shiites, a minority discriminated against in the country for their supposed links with Iran. Their main crime was actually participating in protests against the government ten years ago.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accuses Riyadh of having turned them into criminals when they were only using their freedom of expression.
The execution of 81 men in Saudi Arabia is the largest mass execution in years. Given the systematic and widespread abuses of the criminal justice system, it is unlikely that these men received a fair trial. https://t.co/x5YQcgxGJN pic.twitter.com/lYugrdAyjY
— HRW in French (@hrw_fr) March 15, 2022
NGOs denounce unfair trials and the lack of information to families who were not authorized to recover the bodies. The Saudi press speaks of these executions as a stunning success in putting down terrorism or as a source of pride that is worth respect and admiration.
She even shows a form of provocation. The country wants to show the Saudis and the international community that the regime is strong, and that no one dictates its practices.
The kingdom even pushed cynicism to the point of releasing, the day before these executions, the activist and blogger Raïf Badawi, imprisoned since 2012. A smokescreen. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is miles away from his reform promises. He carries a project of liberalization of society and still recently assured in an American magazine that he was going to modernize the judicial system.
The world’s largest oil producer, the country is the only one able to curb the surge in prices caused by the war in Ukraine, by increasing its production. So far, Riyadh has neither condemned Russia nor turned on the tap. Last week, Arab newspapers even reported that MBS no longer takes US President Joe Biden on the phone.
The energy crisis has returned omnipotence to Saudi Arabia, the power it lost after the assassination of the newspaper Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The economic situation is so critical that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering surrendering in Riyadh this week to convince MBS to act. So much for the 81 executions. So much for human rights abuses. Once again, Saudi oil is enough to buy the silence of the world.