Saudi Arabia Executes 81 People In One Day For Terrorism And Other Crimes

RIYADH, March 12 – Saudi Arabia executed 81 people, including seven Yemenis and one Syrian, on Saturday, the interior ministry said in what was the largest mass execution in the kingdom in decades.

This number dwarfs the 67 executions reported there for all of 2021 and 27 executions in 2020.

Offenses ranged from joining paramilitary groups to adhering to “deviant beliefs,” the ministry said in a statement.

“These individuals, 81 in total, were convicted of various crimes, including the murder of innocent men, women and children,” the statement said.

“The crimes committed by these individuals also include swearing allegiance to foreign terrorist organizations such as ISIS (Islamic State), Al-Qaeda and the Houthis,” the statement said.

The ministry did not say how the executions were carried out.

Among the men were 37 Saudi nationals who were found guilty in one case of attempting to kill security personnel and attacking police stations and convoys, the statement said.

The mass execution is likely to bring back attention to the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia at a time when world powers were focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Human rights groups have accused Saudi Arabia of enforcing restrictive laws on political and religious expression and have criticized it for using the death penalty, including on defendants arrested when they were minors. More

“There are prisoners of conscience on death row in Saudi Arabia and others arrested as children or charged with non-violent crimes,” said Soraya Bauwens, deputy director of anti-death penalty charity Reprieve.

“We fear for each of them after this brutal demonstration of impunity,” she added.

Saudi Arabia denies allegations of human rights violations and says it is protecting its national security through its laws.

State news agency SPA said the defendants were given the right to a lawyer and were guaranteed their full rights under Saudi law during the trial.

In 1980, the kingdom executed 63 people in one day, a year after militants took over the Grand Mosque in Mecca, according to state media reports.

In just one day in 2016, 47 people were executed, including prominent Shia Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Reporting by Aziz El Yacoubi; Editing: Andrew Havens

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