August 25, 2015

Killing in the name of justice

located:	Saudi Arabia
editor:	Murat Suner

Saudi Arabia has executed on average one person every two days, according to a report released on Tuesday by Amnesty International reports the Guardian.

Over the last 12 months at least 175 people have been killed.

The report 'Killing in the Name of Justice' exposes the shockingly arbitrary use of the death penalty in the Saudi Arabia. According to Amnesty International the death sentence is often imposed after trials that blatantly flout international standards.

“Sentencing hundreds of people to death after deeply flawed legal proceedings is utterly shameful. The use of the death penalty is horrendous in all circumstances, and is particularly deplorable when it is arbitrarily applied after blatantly unfair trials,” said Said Boumedouha, Acting Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

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. 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.

The kingdom is in the top five countries in the world for putting people to death. It ranked third in 2014, after China and Iran, and ahead of Iraq and the United States, according to Amnesty International figures.