SAUDI Arabia have conducted the biggest mass execution in their history – with eighty one people left dead.
It was reported by Saudi media that the kingdom executed eighty one men today including members of Al-Qaida, the “Islamic State” and supporters of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
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As of this moment is it unclear what the method of killing was and why the kingdom chose Saturday for the executions.
The executions carried out surpassed even the toll of a January 1980 mass execution for the 63 militants convicted of seizing the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979, the worst-ever militant attack to target the kingdom and Islam’s holiest site.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency announced the executions and confirmed that those included were convicted of various crimes such as the murdering of innocent men, women and children.
A statement said: “The kingdom will continue to take a strict and unwavering stance against terrorism and extremist ideologies that threaten the stability of the entire world.”
According to the agency, the accused were provided with the right to an attorney and were guaranteed their full rights under Saudi law during the judicial process.
They then found them guilty of committing multiple heinous crimes that left a large number of civilians and law enforcement officers dead.
An announcement by Saudi state television described those executed as having followed the footsteps of Satan in carrying out their crimes.
The number of death penalty cases being carried out had dropped during the coronavirus pandemic, though the kingdom continued to behead convicts under King Salman and his assertive son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
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The kingdom’s last mass execution came in January 2016, when the kingdom executed 47 people, including a prominent opposition Shiite cleric who had rallied demonstrations in the kingdom.
In 2019, the kingdom beheaded 37 Saudi citizens, most of them minority Shiites, in a mass execution across the country for alleged terrorism-related crimes.
Last year we covered the different ways in which Saudi Arabia’s capital punishments are carried out including public beheading, crucifixion and paralysis.
