According to a rights group headquartered in Europe, Saudi Arabia has executed 886 people, including kids, at an increasing rate over the last six years.
According to the Arabic-language Mirat al-Jazeera news website, Saudi Arabia has executed 886 people, including 12 minors and 20 women, at an increasing rate since 2015, according to figures presented by the second conference on victims of Saudi government rights breaches.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) convened a virtual conference in which it was revealed that 41 of the executed were foreign nationals who had been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.
A number of activists and opponents of the Saudi regime attended the conference, which was held online on December 10 in honour of World Human Rights Day, in an attempt to shed light on the extent of Riyadh’s repression of dissidents, including arrests and executions, which puts the lives of human rights defenders in the Arab kingdom in danger.
Despite a global decline in executions, Saudi Arabia set a new record for the number of persons murdered in 2019. Saudi authorities hanged 184 people in 2019.
Riyadh’s increasing use of the death sentence, mostly as a political tool against dissidents, is disturbing, according to human rights activists.
Muslin bin Mohammad al-Mohsen was executed in the latest executions carried out by Saudi authorities against Shia inmates in Qatif and al-Ahsa in the kingdom’s Eastern Province after he was accused of allegedly engaging in a cell aimed at disrupting Saudi Arabia’s internal security.
Since February 2011, peaceful demonstrations have been place in the Shia-majority Eastern Province. Protesters have called for changes, freedom of expression, the release of political prisoners, and an end to discrimination against the oil-rich region on economic and religious grounds.
The authorities has responded to the protesters with a harsh crackdown. Across the province, security measures have been beefed up.
Saudi officials executed Mustafa al-Darwish earlier this year for alleged crimes he committed when he was seventeen years old. According to the interior ministry, the young citizen attempted to disrupt the country’s internal security by propagating sedition.
According to human rights activist Taha al-Hajji, the regime’s virtual and non-virtual media misrepresent the facts by deceptive techniques, and the ministry of interior does not talk about how people are punished or such lies.
Saudi officials reported the mass execution of 37 men in April 2019, 33 of whom were citizens who had been sentenced to death after unfair trials for alleged espionage, terrorist acts, and promoting insecurity.
It was the largest mass execution in Saudi Arabia since 44 people were hanged on terrorism accusations in January 2016.
Since Mohammed bin Salman took over as de facto leader of Saudi Arabia in 2017, the country has increased arrests of activists, bloggers, academics, and others seen as political opponents, demonstrating near-zero tolerance for dissent.
Muslim academics have been killed, women’s rights activists have been imprisoned and tortured, and freedom of expression, association, and belief have all been restricted.
Between 1985 and 2016, Saudi Arabia executed almost 2,000 people. Torture and unfair trials have been reported frequently by human rights organisations.
