Saudi Arabia executes 81 convicts in single day

Riyadh, Mar 12 (EFE).- Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from terrorism to armed robbery, over double the number of all executions carried out by the country in 2020, the state-run Saudi news agency, SPA reported.

“The interior ministry has announced that it has carried out death sentences against individuals convicted of terrorism and capital crimes,” SPA said.

“These individuals, numbering 81 in all, were convicted of various crimes, including the murder of innocent men, women and children,” it added.

Most of those convicted are Saudis, but also some Yemenis and several are linked by the Saudi justice system to the Islamic State terrorist group, al-Qaeda and even to the Yemeni Houthi Shiite movement.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab coalition that fights Yemen’s Houthi movement, which Riyadh labels a terrorist organization.

Many of the trials that sent these people to death row lack the minimum guarantees according to international standards, and many of the convicted of terror are political dissidents, according to human rights organizations.

Saudi Arabia, an ultra-conservative Muslim country whose justice is based on Islamic law, executed 27 people in 2020, according to Amnesty International and 12 last year. EFE

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