Despite International criticism from foreign governments and human rights campaigners, Saudi Arabia seems to show no willingness to stop public executions. The country had publicly executed a total of 80 people in 2014, but had already executed 88 people in 2015, and it's just May. Last week, five foreigners(men) were publicly executed in Saudi Arabia, for murder and theft.
Credit:Reuters/Andrew Biraj
Human rights campaigners took to social media to talk about the state sponsored executions of people and it is being labelled as "macabre spike”
A middle east analyst for human rights watch, Adam Coogle said :
From January to the end of July 2014 there were 15 executions, but they finished 2014 with 88, which shows clearly that the spike began last year and has continued
Peggy Hicks, Global Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch, called the jump in beheadings “shocking.”
Any hopes that the arrival of King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud might herald an improvement in human rights in Saudi Arabia have been crushed,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Director of Middle East and North Africa programs.
Luther said the new king is overseeing an “ongoing crackdown on government critics and peaceful activists, who continue to be intimidated, arbitrarily detained and treated as criminals.”
“The first months of his reign have also been marked by an unprecedented wave of executions in a clear signal that the use of the death penalty is thriving in the Kingdom.”
First Reported By RT
Edited By Doy News