Saudi Arabia, one of the countries with the most capital punishment in the world, executed a man during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, traditionally a period of truce, a Saudi NGO denounced on Monday.
The oil-rich Gulf monarchy executed a cleric for murder on March 28, five days after the start of Ramadan, in the western Medina region, home to the city of the same name, the second most sacred of Islam. according to the official SPA news agency.
“Saudi Arabia applied the death penalty against a citizen during the month of Ramadan,” the Euro-Saudi Arabia Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) said in a statement.
81 people executed in a single day in March 2022
According to this Berlin-based NGO, no convicted person had been executed during this holy month “in the last 14 years” at least, citing data published by the Ministry of the Interior “since 2009”.
At least 17 death sentences have been carried out since the beginning of the year in the country, ESOHR added. In all, more than 1,000 death sentences have been carried out since King Salman came to power in 2015, and the ascension of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, according to a report by the British organization Reprieve and ESOHR. .
As of March 2022, the country had executed 81 people in a single day, sparking protests abroad, with NGOs denouncing “mass executions”. The authorities, anxious to soften their image internationally, say they want to limit the death penalty to extreme cases.
Source: BFM TV
