There’s a reason for the sword in their flag.
Execution toll hits 88 in Saudi: Number killed passes total for whole of 2014 despite activists’ concerns over fairness of trials
Family members of beheaded Indonesian maid Siti Zainab hold a poster bearing her portrait at their family home in Bangkalan in East Java province
- Latest to be put to death are Saudis Awad al-Rowaili and Lafi al-Shammary, who were convicted of smuggling amphetamines
- They were executed in northern region of Jawf, interior ministry said
- Tops figure of 87 executed by conservative Islamic kingdom in 2014
- Amnesty International says court proceedings in country ‘fall far short’ of global norms of fairness
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday carried out its 88th execution so far this year, surpassing the total for all of 2014 despite activists’ concerns that trials are not conducted fairly.
The interior ministry identified the latest to be put to death as Saudis Awad al-Rowaili and Lafi al-Shammary, who were convicted of smuggling amphetamines.
They were executed in the northern region of Jawf, the ministry said in statements carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Another Saudi, Mohammed al-Shihri, was separately put to death in the southwestern region of Asir for murder.
Lebanese human rights activists hold signs saying ‘Do not kill’ outside the Saudi embassy in Beirut. The conservative Islamic kingdom has executed 88 people already this year
The conservative Islamic kingdom executed 87 people in 2014, according to an AFP tally.
Those beheaded this year include Siti Zainab, an Indonesian domestic worker convicted of murder despite concerns about her mental health, according to the Indonesian newspaper Kompas.
Jakarta summoned Riyadh’s ambassador over her case, a rare diplomatic incident linked to Saudi Arabia’s executions, around half of which involve foreigners.
Also among this year’s dead are at least eight Yemenis, 10 Pakistanis, Syrians, Jordanians, and individuals from Myanmar, the Philippines, India, Chad, Eritrea and Sudan.
Saudi Arabia ranked among the world’s top five executioners in 2014, according to rights group Amnesty International.
NOTE: Face it, the world has become numbed to the Saudis beheading machine for as long as these issues have become a matter of importance. With the arrival of the Islamic State, even more so now.
