Britain’s org: Executions doubled in Saudi Arabia over last 5 years  

SANAA, April 16 (YPA) – Britain’s human rights organization Reprieve said in a report the death sentences had doubled in Saudi Arabia during the past five years, and had involved 37 people a year ago for “political motives.”

According to the Anatolia Agency, the British newspaper “The Times” reported, on Wednesday, a report to “Reprieve” stating that the authorities in the Kingdom carried out 423 death sentences between 2009 and 2014.

The organization added that the execution of death sentences in the Kingdom doubled between 2015 and 2020, when 800 people were executed.

The organization confirmed that 186 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2019 alone, including 37 Saudis who were killed in a mass execution on April 23 of the same year for “political motives.”

The organization noted that two of the 37 were 16 and 17 years old when they were arrested on the background of their participation in an anti-government demonstration and were convicted of “terrorism”.

In April 2019, the Saudi Ministry of Interior said that it had taken the decision to execute the 37 people “after being convicted of terrorism-related charges, causing chaos, damaging peace and adopting extremist ideology,” she claimed.

Reprieve attributed the increasing death sentences in Saudi Arabia in part to the number of people accused of “committing politically motivated crimes.”