Barbados named, Saudis…..nope.
I’m for capital punishment in slam dunk cases, that said, leaving Saudi Arabia off the list goes to show just how deep the pockets go for this member of the pajamas and slippers club.
UK left oil-rich Saudi out of drive to halt death penalty: Country was only one with capital punishment missing from list as Britain targeted Barbados and Jordan
Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn an effigy of King Salman of Saudi Arabia as they hold posters of Sheik Nimr al-Nimr and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq
- Saudi Arabia was omitted from a UK campaign against the death penalty
- It was the only major country with the death penalty left off a Whitehall list
- Those given a greater priority than Saudi Arabia, which carried out 158 executions last year, included Barbados, Singapore and Jordan
Saudi Arabia was omitted from an official UK campaign against the death penalty despite the number of executions it carries out.
The oil-rich state was the only major country with the death penalty left off a Whitehall list to be challenged by diplomats, it emerged last night.
Those given a greater priority than Saudi Arabia, which carried out 158 executions last year, included Barbados, Singapore and Jordan which passed fewer than ten death sentences between them in 2014.
The revelation comes as a dangerous rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran deepened last night over the execution of a prominent Muslim cleric.
Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia imam, was one of 47 convicts executed by beheading or firing squad at 12 separate Saudi prisons last weekend.
The fallout threatens to destabilise the entire Middle East after Iran, which mainly adheres to the Shia branch of Islam, said Sunni-run Saudi would face ‘divine vengeance’. Saudi Arabia cut its diplomatic and trade ties with Tehran yesterday and suspended all commercial flights.
Its allies Bahrain and Sudan also severed diplomatic ties with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates recalled its ambassador.
Read more: H/T: Buck
