Under the rule of Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the rate of execution carried out by Saudi Arabia has witnessed the most significant spike ever. As a result, the past six years have been among the bloodiest years in the history of Saudi Arabia.
British daily newspaper, The Guardian reported that the rate of executions carried out by Saudi Arabia has almost doubled under the rule of MBS.
The report further adds that the increasing rate of execution also takes into account the total crackdown on the crown prince’s political opponents and zero tolerance for dissent.
Between 2015 and 2022, an average of 129 executions were carried out each year. The figure represents an 82 per cent increase in the period 2010-14. Last year, 147 people were executed.
A joint report by two organisations, the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights and Reprieve, states that Saudi Arabia’s application of the death penalty is riddled with discrimination and injustice, and the Saudi regime has been lying to the international community about its use.
The report further states, “The death penalty is routinely used for non-lethal offences and to silence dissidents and protesters, despite promises by the crown prince that executions would only be used for murder. Fair trial violations and torture are endemic in death penalty cases, including torture of child defendants.”
“In the last six years, there have also been slight increases in executions of children, women and foreign nationals, as well as mass executions and executions for non-lethal offences. A moratorium on capital punishment for drug crimes was recently lifted, as reported by The Guardian.
MBS was crowned prince in June 2017 and has supervised the most fundamental transformation in the modern history of the Gulf nation and sidelined all his rivals. However, he has taken intolerance to new levels, with political and business rivals subject to mass detention and financial shakedowns and family members of officials that have fled the country being detained for use as leverage to get them back to the kingdom.
The death penalty is seen as one of the new regime’s more visceral tools.
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