In Saudi Arabia, 81 people sentenced to death were beheaded in a single day, Saturday March 12. In the crash of Russian bombs, this macabre record went relatively unnoticed: the whole world has its eyes turned towards Ukraine. However, the kingdom has never executed so many prisoners simultaneously. In a single day, that’s more than in all of 2021 (67 executions).
The execution of 81 innocent Muslims in one day by the Saudi Arabia’s absolute monarchy despite the execution of juveniles is prohibited by international law and this’s ahuman rights violation. Who is responsible for this violence crime?#الموت_لآل_سعود#لا_للظلم pic.twitter.com/5z2i3bW9lc
— Amily_Adams (@Amily_Adams) March 14, 2022
These prisoners were mostly Saudis (there were only 8 foreigners among them: 7 Yemenis and one Syrian). According to the kingdom’s official news agency, they were guilty of attacks against Saudi sites, ” kidnappings, torture, rape and arms smuggling responsible for crimes which caused a large number of deaths among civilians and law enforcement “. Without further details.
Half of those sentenced to death were Shiites, a minority which represents 10 to 15% of the population, a minority discriminated against in the country for its supposed links with the great neighboring enemy, Iran. Their main crime was above all to have participated in demonstrations against the government in 2011 and 2012.
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. NGOs denounce the unfair trials and the lack of information to the families who were not authorized to recover the bodies. I‘European Saudi Organization for Human Rights does not hesitate to speak of “massacre“.
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
The Saudi press speaks of these executions as a “stunning success in subduing terrorism“or a”source of pride that is worth respect and admiration“. “There is no Islam without community, and community without faith, and faith without obedience. planned for him [la charia]”, declared on television the head of the religious police, who evokes a measure “necessary to preserve order and unity”.
In the chancelleriesforeign, reactions remain rare. The European Union said to itself firmly opposed to the death penalty, whatever the circumstances » and worries about a « worrying increase in the tendency to use the death penalty in Saudi Arabia“. A timid condemnation.
Saudi Arabia is sending out an unambiguous message: it is a question of showing the Saudis and the international community that the regime is strong, that no one is dictating its practices to it.
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 Ben Salman, who has a project to liberalize society, said recently in an American magazine that he was going to modernize the judicial system. We are miles away from these promises of reform.
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. The energy crisis has returned Saudi Arabia to the omnipotence and power it lost after the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. But iSo 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.
Fury as Boris Johnson jets to Saudi Arabia today for oil talks despite 81 men executedhttps://t.co/HcjXqO8mG6 pic.twitter.com/mYm4QREHYj
— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) March 15, 2022
The economic situation is so critical that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to travel to 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.