Saudi Arabia’s escalating use of the death penalty has reached horrifying levels in 2024, with at least 309 individuals executed as of 8 December, the highest known figure in Saudi history. This grim milestone illustrates the Saudi authorities’ callous disregard for the right to life, and contradicts their own pledges to limit use of the death penalty.
Of the 309 individuals executed so far in 2024, according to data from the official Saudi Press Agency, 189 (61%) were Saudi nationals. The 120 foreign nationals executed were from 14 Asian and African countries.
106 individuals have been executed for drug-related crimes, 81 of whom were foreign nationals. This marks a sharp rise from 2023, which saw just two drug-related executions, and confirms the reversal of a short-lived moratorium on executions for such offences that lasted from January 2021 until November 2022 but was never consolidated in an official change of policy. This regressive trend raises serious concerns for the lives of hundreds of prisoners sentenced to death for drug-related offences. Such executions are in clear violation of international human rights law, which prohibits use of the death penalty for crimes that do not meet the threshold of the “most serious”.
46 individuals were executed for “terrorism-related” offences, which can include a wide range of non-lethal acts such as taking part in protests. The implausible claim made by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) that Abdulmajeed Al Nimr, a Shi’a man executed on 17 August, had joined a terrorist cell affiliated to Al-Qaeda – a charge that did not appear anywhere in the court documents relating to his trial and sentencing – represents a flagrant example of the Saudi authorities’ determination to brand legitimate dissent and protest a form of terrorism.
Saudi Arabia has for years been among the countries carrying out the highest number of executions in the world. Despite a pledge in 2018 from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to reduce use of the death penalty, the rate of executions has continued to soar…
Of course there is. Just like with Israel- BDS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Holding_Company
That means don’t stay at a Four Seasons-owned hotel, don’t use Lyft and, for this and many other reasons, don’t use Twitter.
I [unfortunately] was born and live in Saudi, it’s a little hard to do that when you are at the heart of the country you are trying to boycott.
When i said there is nothing we can do here, i meant it. Protesting is illegal, and considered terrorism. Fuck, even just criticizing the monarchy is a death sentence.
We are one of the least democratic states in the world, and defining saudi as a fascist monarchy is only a matter of semantics of this point.
Sorry, I thought you meant ‘here’ as in ‘from a distance.’
Not a problem, Arabs are a minority on lemmy anyway (probably in the double digits), let alone Saudis. So I’d assume the same as you, too.
Given the nature of your post and the linked article, isn’t it a bit risky posting this? Espeasialy because the nature of your comment makes it possible to narrow down your real live identity, even if you are behind a VPN or the like.
Maybe edit that part out.
Oh yeah, it could get me executed publicly by beheading. I am very privacy conscious, and I harden all my systems so I hope none of this can be traced back to me.
Its also useful for applying for asylum, free citizenship! /hj
But you’re right, It’s small city and that makes me extremely vulnerable, so I edited to just Saudi.
I would be more conserned about stating the relationship to the person executed, as that can be linked to you direktly, to be honest.
Oh, he was just an old teacher of my father’s school, many people knew him. I’m not related to him in any way. If i was related by blood to him, i’d steer clear, though…
For your own safety, please don’t go into more detail (and maybe remove the comment above). You’ve provided more than enough information for a determined adversary to identify you