By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least 198 persons have been executed by Saudi Arabian authorities since the beginning of 2024, the highest number put to death in the country since 1990, Amnesty International said on Saturday.
The Gulf monarchy executed the third highest number of prisoners in the world after China and Iran in 2023, according to Amnesty International.
The latest figure surpassed its previous highs of 196 in 2022 and 192 in 1995, according to the London-based human rights group, which began recording the annual data in 1990.
Executions for drug-related crimes increased this year, with 53 carried out so far, with an average of one execution every two days in July alone.
Authorities have also been accused of weaponising the death penalty to silence dissenting voices, punishing citizens from the country’s Shi’a minority who supported “anti-government” protests between 2011 and 2013.
“Saudi Arabia’s authorities are pursuing a relentless killing spree displaying a chilling disregard for human life while promoting an empty-worded campaign to rebrand their image,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“The death penalty is an abhorrent and inhuman punishment which Saudi Arabia has used against people for a wide range of offences, including political dissent and drug-related charges following grossly unfair trials. The authorities must immediately establish a moratorium on executions, and order re-trials for those on death row in line with international standards without resorting to the death penalty.”
On 17 August 2024, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) announced the execution of Abdulmajeed al-Nimr, a retired traffic police officer, for terrorism-related offences related to joining Al-Qaeda.
However, his court documents tell another story about his charges, which are related to his alleged support for “anti-government” protests in Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a majority Eastern Province.
The kingdom ended a three-year moratorium on the execution of drug offenders at the end of 2022, putting 19 to death in a month.
In 2022, the United Nations said that imposing the death penalty for drug crimes contradicts international norms and standards”, calling on the Saudi authorities to “halt the implementation of death sentences for drug crimes”.
