Saudi Arabia executed 175 in 12 months

Saudi Arabia has executed at least 175 people over the past 12 months, on average one person every two days, according to an Amnesty report.

The number of executions have soared since the ascension of King Salman, who succeeded his half-brother, Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in January this year, reports dailymail.

Nearly half of those executed n the past 30 years have been foreign nationals, with many believed to have lacked sufficient Arabic skills to understand court proceedings.

According to Amnesty, a significant proportion of foreigners put to death in the kingdom had also been denied adequate translation assistance during the trial and were made to sign documents – including confessions – that they did not understand.

Earlier this year, Laila Bint Abdul Muttalib Basim, a Burmese woman residing in Saudi Arabia, was executed after being convicted of the sexual abuse and murder of her seven-year-old step-daughter.

Police publicly beheaded her using a sword on the streets of Mecca, after she was dragged through the street, beaten and held by four policemen.

The 43-page Amnesty report titled 'Killing In the Name of Justice: The Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia' said that between January 1985 and June 2015, at least 2,208 people were executed in the kingdom.

A tally based on official announcements shows that Saudi Arabia executed 109 people since January, compared to 83 in all of 2014.

The kingdom follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law and applies the death penalty to a number of crimes including murder, rape and drug smuggling.

Though not as common, Saudi Courts allow for people to be executed for adultery, apostasy and witchcraft.

People can also be executed for crimes committed when they were below 18 years of age.

'Saudi Arabia's faulty justice system facilitates judicial executions on a mass scale,' Said Boumedouha, acting director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program, said in a statement. 

Most executions in Saudi Arabia are carried out by beheading, or in some cases by firing squad. In certain cases executions are carried out in public and the dead bodies and severed heads are put on display afterwards.

Often, families of prisoners on death row are not notified of their execution and only learn of their loved one’s fate after they have been put to death, sometimes through media reports.

In one case highlighted in the report, two sets of brothers from the same extended family were executed in August 2014 in the southern city of Najran after being convicted of receiving large quantities of hashish. 

Amnesty said the men claimed they were tortured during interrogation and sentenced to death largely based on confessions made after being beaten and deprived of sleep.

Amnesty said it reached out to the Saudi Interior and Justice ministries, but received no reply.

Islamic law as practiced in Saudi Arabia allows for retribution in some cases, whereby relatives of the murder victim have the right to decide if the offender should be executed or pardoned.

If pardoned, compensation or 'blood money' is often paid to the family. In one case reported in Saudi media in 2012, a father pardoned his son's killer on condition he memorize the Quran before leaving prison.

The rights group said Saudi authorities have denied its researchers access to the country. The London-based rights group said it researched cases for this report by contacting people before their execution and reaching out to relatives and lawyers, in addition to analyzing available court documents.