[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 26



SAUDI ARABIA:

Amnesty: Saudi should stop 'bloody execution spree'----Rights groups urge 
kingdom to halt executions of 14 men, reporting that at least 66 have been 
beheaded so far this year.



Amnesty International has urged Saudi Arabia to abandon what it termed a 
"bloody execution spree", after reports that 14 more men are set to be 
executed.

The kingdom has already beheaded at least 66 people this year, the rights group 
said on Monday, as it decried the Saudi Arabian supreme court's decision to 
uphold death sentences against the group convicted of crimes related to their 
involvement in protests.

Amnesty also said it learned on Sunday that the Specialised Criminal Court 
(SCC) in Riyadh upheld the death sentences for 15 other men accused of spying 
for Iran.

In June 2016, the SCC sentenced to death the 14 men charged with crimes 
relating to protesting in what Amnesty says was a "grossly unfair mass trial".

They were convicted of a wide array of crimes that include bomb making, theft, 
robbery, participation in riots and shooting at security vehicles, among 
others.

Court documents showed that the men claimed they had been tortured until they 
confessed to the allegations.

"By confirming these sentences, Saudi Arabia's authorities have displayed their 
ruthless commitment to the use of the death penalty as a weapon to crush 
dissent and neutralise political opponents," Samah Hadid, Director of campaigns 
for the Middle East at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

"King Salman's signature is now all that stands between them and their 
execution. He must immediately quash these death sentences which are a result 
of sham court proceedings that brazenly flout international fair trial 
standards."

Amnesty added that Saudi authorities had executed at least 26 people over the 
past 3 1/2 weeks - an average of more than 1 execution a day.

Meanwhile, as of Wednesday, the UK-based rights group Reprieve had obtained 
more than 32,000 signatures on a petition to cancel the executions.

'Utterly shocking'

Earlier this month, Reprieve lambasted Saudi Arabia for upholding a death 
sentence for 23-year-old Munir Adam, a partially deaf and blind man who was 
allegedly tortured into a confession.

Police are accused of torturing Adam, who was arrested during protests in 2012, 
until he lost all hearing in one ear, despite medical records proving his 
disabilities.

The group called on US President Donald Trump, who visited Saudi Arabia in May, 
to intervene on Adam's behalf.

"Munir's case is utterly shocking - the White House should be appalled that our 
Saudi allies tortured a disabled protester until he lost his hearing then 
sentenced him to death on the basis of a forced 'confession'," Maya Foa, 
director of Reprieve, said in a statement at the time.

Foa went on to accuse Trump of having "emboldened the kingdom to continue the 
torture and execution of protesters".

On July 11, Saudi authorities executed 4 Shia Muslim men convicted on charges 
of "terrorism" for alleged attacks against police and participating in 
protest-related violence against security forces.

On January 2, 2016, the kingdom executed 47 prisoners convicted of various 
offences, among them prominent Shia religious leader Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who 
had led protests against the government and its Sunni religious leaders.

Nimr's execution prompted demonstrations in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province and 
other countries of the Middle East.

In Iran, protests turned violent with demonstrators storming the Saudi embassy, 
prompting Riyadh to cut diplomatic ties with Tehran.

Saudi Arabia has one of the world's highest rates of execution.

Minority Shia Muslims have long complained of marginalisation and 
discrimination in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, and demand political and economic 
reforms.

source: aljazeera.com)