They executed man convicted of terrorism with a saber in Saudi Arabia’s capital

Saudi authorities today executed a man accused of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group who was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer in 2020, while Amnesty International (AI) has warned of the imminent execution of a young man sentenced to death for participating in protests.

The detainee executed on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia was an Egyptian citizen, identified as Walid Al Zuheiri, as reported by the Kingdom’s Interior Ministry.

Executions in Saudi Arabia are carried out with a saber, and the Saudi government’s Human Rights Commission announced in January that it had reduced the number by 85% for those convicted of “non-violent” crimes., although it continues to apply to terrorism cases, which often include political dissidents.

Human rights organization AI today warned in a statement that a 26-year-old could be executed soon, which would “significantly undermine” the downward trend in the number of annual executions, which in 2020, they were 85% less than the previous year, when the death penalty was applied to 184 detainees.

“The Saudi Arabian authorities must immediately end any plans to execute Mustafa al Darwish, which has been found guilty of participating in anti-government unrest and sentenced to death following a flawed trial based on ‘confessions’ obtained under torture, ”said AI’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Lynn Maalouf.

I remembered that Al Darwish was arrested in May 2015 for his alleged involvement in riots between 2011 and 2012, held in solitary confinement for six months, then held incommunicado and without access to a lawyer until his trial began two years later. .

At March from 2018 he was sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court on charges such as “participating in an armed rebellion”, “road closures”, “sowing discord” and “belonging to an armed terrorist network”, according to the NGO.

His conviction was recently upheld by the Saudi Supreme Court and the case was referred to the State Security Presidency, so “Al Darwish could face imminent execution,” Maalouf said.

In addition, Amnesty International stressed that the official indictment does not specify the precise month in which the alleged crimes were committed and that at that time Al Darwish could even be a minor.

(with information from the EFE)

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