Saudi Arabian executed 17 people convicted of drugs and smuggling in the past 12 days, amid euphoria world Cup Qatar 2022.
United Nations Human Rights Office spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell revealed the figures at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday (11/22).
“The most recent executions, which took place on November 10, are deeply regrettable,” Throssell said. The independent.
Saudi Arabia recently carried out another execution after two years of hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the death penalty in Saudi Arabia has been suspended.
During 2022, a total of 144 cases of executions were recorded, most of which were carried out by beheading. This number exceeds the total executions for 2020-2021, which were just under 140 cases.
Out of a total of 144 executions, 81 were killed in mass executions in March 2022. They were convicted of murder and of being members of a militant group.
The number of executions in Saudi Arabia has indeed increased under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
MBS actually once pointed out that executions were only carried out for those convicted of murder.
“Now regarding the death penalty, we have removed all categories except one, and this is written in the Quran, so we can’t do anything, even if we wanted to do something, because it’s a clear commandment in the Quran,” he told The Atlantic.
He also said that the death penalty has so far been reduced through “blood money” deals or reparations for the families of those killed.
MbS said that when someone kills another person, then the family of the person killed has the right to seek the death penalty for the perpetrator, “unless they pardon him”.
“Or if someone threatens the lives of many people, it means that he must be put to death,” MbS said.
He added, “Whether I like it or not, I don’t have the power to change that.”
(blq/ha/bac)
