Saudi Arabia executed 81 people following unfair trials: HRW

SANAA, March 15 (YPA) – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that the Saudi authorities executed 81 men on March 12, the largest mass execution in the kingdom in years, and came after unfair trials and flagrant violations.

The organization explained the mass execution came despite the kingdom’s recent promises to “reduce the use of the death penalty, given the rampant and systematic violations in the Saudi penal system, it is very likely that none of the men received a fair trial.

It quoted Saudi activists as saying that the executed people belonging to the country’s Shiite Muslim minority, which has long suffered from systematic discrimination and violence by the government.

The organization pointed out that the trials were marred by “due legal procedures violations, which included the statements of some that they had been subjected to torture and ill-treatment during interrogation, and their confessions were extracted by force.”

For his part, Michael Page, the deputy director in the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch, said, “Saudi Arabia’s mass execution of 81 men last weekend was nothing but a brutal display of its authoritarian rule and judicial system putting the fairness of their trials and sentences in great doubt.”

According to the organization, “as a deliberate strategy to distract attention from the country’s prevailing image as a major human rights abuser and to compensate for scrutiny and reporting by local human rights organizations and activists, the kingdom is spending billions of dollars hosting major international events and covering its crimes.”

On Saturday, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced the execution of 81 people, and according to reports, 41 of the executed were Shiites from the Qatif region (east of the kingdom), including 7 Yemenis.

AA