During 2024.. Saudi Arabia executes more than 100 foreigners
Published on November 17, 2024
Ansarullah website – Follow-ups
Saudi Arabia has executed more than 100 foreigners since the beginning of 2024, according to a count by Agence France-Presse, based on official announcements, a tally that constitutes a new record according to a human rights
group.
The Saudi Press Agency reported that “on Saturday, the death sentence was carried out against a Yemeni man who allegedly committed a violation punishable by death in the Kingdom.”
The convict is Musa Muhammad Abdullah Saleh, who Saudi authorities said was convicted of smuggling drugs into Saudi territory, and the sentence was carried out in Najran.
His execution brings to 101 the number of foreigners executed in the country since January 2024.
“This is the highest number of foreign executions in a single year,” said Taha Al-Hajji, legal director of the Berlin-based European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR).
In 2023, as in 2022, the number of foreign executions rose year-on-year to 34.
Saudi Arabia has faced repeated criticism for its excessive use of the death penalty.
Human rights organizations say these executions undermine Saudi Arabia’s efforts to polish its image by implementing social and economic reforms under “Vision 2030,” overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia ranked third on the list of countries that carried out the most executions in the world in 2022 and 2023, after China and Iran according to Amnesty International.
In September, an AFP tally based on official data showed that Saudi Arabia had executed 198 people since the beginning of 2024, the highest number of executions in a single year in more than 30 years.
The number was 196 in 2022 and 192 in 1995, according to London-based Amnesty International, which began documenting death sentences in Saudi Arabia in 1990.
Executions have continued at a rapid pace, reaching 274 this year on Sunday.
The sharp increase in executions contradicts statements by bin Salman, who told The Atlantic in 2022 that Riyadh had done away with the death penalty except in cases of murder or when someone threatened the lives of many people.
“This is an unprecedented execution crisis in Saudi Arabia,” said Jade Bassiouni, head of Middle East and North Africa advocacy at the anti-death penalty human rights organization Reprieve, estimating that the total number of executions is expected to exceed 300 this year.
Among the foreigners executed since the start of the year are 21 Pakistanis, 20 Yemenis, 14 Syrians, 10 Nigerians, nine Egyptians, eight Jordanians and seven Ethiopians. Sudanese, Indians, Afghans, a Sri Lankan, an Eritrean and a Filipino were also executed.
Of these, 69 were executed for drug smuggling. Death sentences for drug offenders resumed in Saudi Arabia at the end of 2022, with 19 people executed in one month, after a three-year hiatus.
Hajji pointed out that foreigners “are often exploited by major drug dealers,” adding that they “are subjected to many human rights violations, from their arrest until their execution.”
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