Saudi Arabia executes 81 people in one day | News from Germany about events in the world

In Saudi Arabia on Saturday, March 12, the death penalty was carried out against 81 people. Thus, the number of executions in the country in just one day turned out to be higher than in the whole of 2021. Then the figure was 69 people.

According to local media, all those executed were accused of terrorism. Thus, the Saudi state news agency SPA writes that they were associated with the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations and have already been found guilty of “several heinous crimes” by the country’s courts. Among those executed were 73 Saudi Arabian citizens, 7 Yemeni citizens and one Syrian, SPA points out.

For their part, human rights activists criticized the executions. “Just last week, the Crown Prince (Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. – Ed.) told reporters that he wanted to modernize Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system and then ordered the largest mass execution in the country’s history,” UK-based human rights group Reprieve said.

Criminal Law Reforms in Saudi Arabia

Until March 11, the total number of executions in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of 2022 reached 11 people, according to AFP agency estimates. Saudi Arabia has announced a series of criminal reforms in recent years, including a moratorium on the death penalty for drug-related offenses and the abolition of flogging as a form of punishment. In April 2020, the kingdom also decided to abolish the death penalty for those convicted of crimes committed under the age of 18.

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