Saudi Arabia Executions : Foreigners such as Somalis Most Killed

[Jacaylbaro]

Executions quadrupled last year in Saudi Arabia, where the majority of those put to death were poor, foreign workers, Amnesty International said.

 

More than half the 1,839 people executed in Saudi Arabia in the past 23 years were foreigners from developing nations such as Somalia and Sudan, the London-based human rights group said in a report today. Those condemned usually lack family support or ties to influential Saudis who have arranged for many citizens of the kingdom to be spared, Amnesty said. Their countries are unlikely to intervene and ask for pardons, the organization added.

 

``The implication is that Saudi Arabian authorities effectively discriminate on national or ethnic grounds when carrying out executions,'' according to the 54-page report titled Affront to Justice: The Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia.

 

As a result, Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most prolific users of the death penalty, Amnesty said. At least 158 people were executed in the kingdom last year, up from 39 the year before, the group said. Saudi Arabia doesn't release official statistics and the Interior Ministry declined to comment on the report.

 

The examples include Sabri Bogday, a Turkish man, married with one child, who was sentenced to death on March 31. He was convicted of apostasy following trial proceedings of which very little is known, Amnesty said. A 39-year-old Indian woman living in Had City, whose name was undisclosed, was arrested in 2005 on adultery charges and sentenced to death by stoning.

 

The death penalty is invoked for apostasy, or the abandonment of religious faith, adultery, rebellion and highway robbery, a term referring to violent criminal acts against people or property.

 

 

Secretive System

 

The ``sharp rise'' in executions can't be fully explained because Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system is so secretive, Amnesty said. The number of executions began to increase following the kingdom's extension of the death penalty in 1987 to cover drug offenses, it said.

 

In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly called on states to restrict the use of the death penalty to the ``most serious crimes,'' with the aim of abolishing it. The punishment remains legal in 68 countries, though not all of them use it. The U.S., Libya, China, and Japan are among nations that carried out executions in the past two years.

 

Saudi authorities introduced changes in 2000 to improve criminal-court procedures and the role of lawyers. The government also set up two groups to promote and protect human rights and has begun to cooperate with the UN's human rights mechanisms, Amnesty said.

 

Youths, Women

 

Still, Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries to execute people for crimes committed when they were under 18. It is also one of the few states in the world with a high rate of executions for women, the group said.

 

Trials are often held in secret, and foreigners wouldn't understand proceedings because they're routinely denied access to a lawyer, according to the report. Confessions are usually extracted through torture, ranging from electric shocks to nail- pulling and beatings, it said.

 

Saudi authorities, who say the death penalty is justified under Islamic Sharia law, argue that execution is a deterrent to crime and mention the country's low rate of reported crime. They haven't produced statistics to support this claim, Amnesty said.

 

The organization said it was concerned at the prospect of a further increase in executions after the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on Oct. 1. Saudi authorities had suspended executions during Ramadan. A total of 71 people were executed in Saudi Arabia this year before Ramadan, Amnesty said.

 

A Filipino was one of two people beheaded in the kingdom today, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the Interior Ministry. He was accused of strangling a Saudi after an argument, AFP said.

[London2010]

Jacaylbaro. Do you remember those 7 Somali men who were all executed together without even as a trial for them. Did you remember that.

Now do you understand my views on Arabs.

[Mad_Mullah]

London2010;727401 wrote:

Jacaylbaro. Do you remember those 7 Somali men who were all executed together without even as a trial for them. Did you remember that.

Now do you understand my views on Arabs.

First of all its not all Arab countries, but KSA, secondly, it's the government not the people. The reason these people get killed is because their own governments don't care or can't do anything about it. Tribe A bombed Hargeisa, so should JB hate everyone in Tribe A? Tribe C cleansed the capital of Tribe A, should I as Tribe A hate Tribe C?

 

What you crying about 7 Somalis that awere killed without a trail, while that happens everday in Somalia. Your racist views have no place here.

[Masweyn]

Madaxda Sacuudi Carabiya ee dadka danbi la'aan iska dilaya cid u doodana ay jirin maalinta Qiyaama su'aalooyin badan iyo dacwooyin badan ayaa sugaya Ilaahey idinkiis. Bal fiiri hadii aad caqli leedahay nin reer Galbeed ah Saudi Arabia dil iska daa xabsi xitaa ma dhigi karto. Dadka la dilayo waa dad masaakiin ah oo wadamadoodu dagaalo ka socdaan ama cid u dooda ay jirin. Mahadsanidiin.

[Som@li]

Very Barbaric country

[Mad_Mullah]

Som@li;727565 wrote:

Very Barbaric country

For goodness sake.....imagine being a Japanese/Italian/Whatever, reading this thread, people from the poorest, most corrupt, most ignorant country in the world calling another country barbaric..

[Som@li]

^Mate, get help, from the self hate, Somalis are much better than those barbarians!

[Valenteenah.]

When was this report published? It must be at least 2 years ago since it mentions Oct 1 as the end of Ramadan and we have since had two September Eids.

 

Very disturbing statistics nonetheless.

[burahadeer]

Muslim brothers heheeee & those islamists talk bad about the west,where we have due process same as nationals,carry their passports & indeed live a good life.....welcome to shabab country!!!!!!

[Alpha Blondy]

human rights nonsense.

[Blessed]

Mad_Mullah;727570 wrote:

For goodness sake.....imagine being a Japanese/Italian/Whatever, reading this thread, people from the poorest, most corrupt, most ignorant country in the world calling another country barbaric..

Let me get this, you defend the actions of KSA because Somalis are in a worse situation? You challenge someones prejudiced views of a nation by insulting another? You're really not all that different, mate.

 

Bottom line the Saudi justice system sucks. This is true for most Arab and African, oh most third world nations for that matter.

[Mad_Mullah]

*Blessed;727973 wrote:

Let me get this, you defend the actions of KSA because Somalis are in a worse situation? You challenge someones prejudiced views of a nation by insulting another? You're really not all that different, mate.

 

Bottom line the Saudi justice system sucks. This is true for most Arab and African, oh most third world nations for that matter.

I don't defend their actions, I'm saying that the guy with Will Smiths photo shouldn't call them barbaric as we are much worse. Imagine a Tutsi coming to this forum and saying Somalis are barbaric.

[ANWAR]

mad_mullah;727437 wrote:

first of all its not all arab countries, but ksa, secondly, it's the government not the people. The reason these people get killed is because their own governments don't care or can't do anything about it. Tribe a bombed hargeisa, so should jb hate everyone in tribe a? Tribe c cleansed the capital of tribe a, should i as tribe a hate tribe c?

spot on 100%

[Complete]

Have I ever shared with y'all my idea of fun in Saudi Arabia? An idea that happens to be on my bucket list. Being that I am a woman and I'm not able to drive in this country, I'm going to "borrow" someones vehicle and drive around the city and once I'm seen by the haram police or what not....make sure I drive through the US Embassy for safety . I wonder what I'd be charged with.

 

I plan on deleting this so Saudi intelligence (laughable) should not see my idea.

[Blessed]

Mad Mullah, the guy with the will smith photo is an individual not the Somali errm leadership. Just as you generously make a distinctin for the Saudis, you aught to do the same for the Somali, d'ya get me? London2010 however is a silly script ~troll and should be ignored like the rest of them.

 

This however, should not take the focus away from the inhuman manner the Govt of KSA treats it' residents and citizens...

 

Vans, might as well go for a double bang, eh? They do filter the cyber, currently, there's an FB campaing 4 women and they have already started to arrest women for driving.... http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/14005.aspx. This is after weeks of denying a driving even exists in local media..