Saudi Arabia. Confessions of an accused of "terrorism" having sex with other men

Five men out of 37 tortured and beheaded last Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, accused of being "terrorists", reportedly had bad with each other, according to the confession of one of the witnesses indicated during his trial.

One of the headless men Tuesday in the Saudi kingdom admitted to having bad with four of his "terrorism" co-defendants, but several of them complained during the trial that the confession was obtained under torture.

In Saudi Arabia, Homobaduality is a crime punishable by the death penalty, as indicated by Sharia, Islamic law that governs the country. Court documents, obtained by CNN, indicate that the man who confessed to having bad with his co-defendants He said he hated the Saudi state and the Sunni sect, a branch of Islam that is radically anti-Shiite, his own religion, which governs the kingdom..

Saudi authorities reported Tuesday the execution of 37 people accused of "terrorism" in the kingdom, one of the countries that are leading the death penalty registers in the world. One of them has even been crucified.

The Ministry of the Interior explained in a statement issued by the agency SPA that the executions took place after the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and a royal decree ratifies the conviction of the convict.

According to the note, the executed persons were sentenced to "adopt the extremist terrorist ideologytraining terrorist cells, corrupt and destabilize security, develop the file, provoke sectarian sedition, harming peace and social security, attacking security places with the use of explosive devices, kill several security forces and for betrayal for collaboration with hostile entities"to the kingdom.

Interior said that executions had occurred on Tuesday in the cities of Riad, Mecca, Medina, Al Sharqia, Al Qasim and Assir.

The man accused of having bad with his co-accused He denied the charges and his lawyer said that it was false accusations., according to documents obtained by CNN. He is one of 14 convicted for forming a "terrorist cell" in the city of Awamiya after anti-government protests of 2011 and 2012.

Another of the convicts said that the letter that was shown at trial as his confession had not been written by him. "It's a libel, it's written with the fist of my hangman," he said.

Two of the beheadings were arrested when they were only 16 and 17 years old. One of them was ready to start a new life in the United States while he was going to study at the University of Western Michigan. The boy, Mujtaba al-Sweikat, He was brutally beaten before confessing his "crimes", including that of attending a protest in 2012..

The convict too they repeatedly complained of not having access to a lawyer or of being abandoned in isolation centers for several months, in addition to being tortured physically and psychologically. they received and their sentence was based solely on their "confessions".

In 2018, Saudi Arabia executed 149 prisoners, three more than the year before, despite the promises of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman to "minimize" the death penalty in the kingdom. If the trend continues, it will surpbad the previous one this year, since, according to SPA, already at least 100 people were executed in the first four months.

EXECUTIONS OF THE CRITICAL UN

High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations (UN) Chilean Michelle Bachelet, stated that it was "particularly horrible that at least three of the beheadings were minors at the time of their conviction, a flagrant violation of international law ".

Bachelet He also criticized and expressed concern over the lack of guarantees as to the guarantee of due process and a fair trial in the kingdom.Just when the denunciations by confession obtained under torture sounded in the country.