Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia
Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia is a legal punishment, with most executions in the country being carried out by decapitation (beheading) – Saudi Arabia being the only country in the world to still use the method.[1] In 2022, recorded executions in Saudi Arabia reached 196, the highest number recorded in the country for any year over the last three decades.[2]
Death sentences are almost exclusively based on the system of judicial sentencing discretion (tazir), following the classical principle of avoiding Sharia-prescribed (hudud) penalties when possible.[3] In recent decades, the government and the courts have increasingly issued these sentences, reacting to a rise in violent crime during the 1970s. This paralleled similar developments in the U.S. and Mainland China in the late 20th century.[3] The performing of executions by decapitation (beheading), in public, led to a central square in the Kingdom's capital, Riyadh, being known in the West as "Chop-Chop Square".
The kingdom executed at least 158 people in 2015,[4] at least 154 in 2016,[5] at least 146 in 2017,[6] 149 in 2018,[7] 184 in 2019,[8] 69 in 2020, and 196 in 2022.[9] The drastic reduction in 2020 was due to a moratorium on death penalties for drug-related offenses[10] as Saudi Arabia proposed ending the death penalty for these and other nonviolent offences.[11][12] Additionally, on 26 April 2020, a royal decree ended the execution of people who were juveniles when they committed their crime.[13][14] (Saudi Arabia had previously executed these people despite having signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child.)[15] Nonetheless, there were 67 executions in 2021, more than doubling the previous year's, according to the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights. In January 2022, at least 43 detainees, including 12 minors, were threatened with execution.[16] On March 12, 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 81 people, seven of whom were Yemenis and one of whom was a Syrian,[17] in the largest known mass execution in the history of the country.[18]
Methodology[edit]
Saudi Arabia has a criminal justice system based on a form of Shari'ah reflecting a particular state-sanctioned interpretation of Islam.
Execution is usually carried out by beheading with a sword, but may occasionally be performed by shooting or firing squad.[19] Saudi Arabia performs public executions. Sentences are primarily given on confession. Human Rights Watch says the majority of people are tortured to obtain confession and courts have not investigated it. As of April 2020, minors who commit crimes will no longer face execution when they turn 18, and would instead face a maximum of 10 years in juvenile detention facility.[14]
A 2018 report by the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) asserts that the number of beheadings in the kingdom during the first quarter of 2018 rose by over 70 percent compared to the same period in 2017.[20]
A public beheading will typically take place around 9 a.m. The convicted person is walked to a courtyard near the courthouse and kneels in front of the executioner. A police official announces the crimes committed by the person and the beheading takes place. The executioner uses a sword known as a sulthan to remove the condemned person's head from his or her body at the neck.[21] After a medical examiner inspects the body and then pronounces the convict dead, a police official announces the crimes committed by the beheaded convict once again and the process is complete. Professional executioners have beheaded as many as 10 people in a single day.[22]
Crucifixion of the beheaded body is sometimes ordered in cases where the person was a child molester or a rapist.[23] For example, in 2009, the Saudi Gazette reported that "an Abha court had sentenced the leader of an armed gang to death and three-day crucifixion (public displaying of the beheaded body) and six other gang members to beheading for their role in jewelry store robberies in Asir."[24] (This practice resembles gibbeting, in which the entire body is displayed.)
In 2003, Muhammad Saad al-Beshi, whom the ITV described as "Saudi Arabia's leading executioner", gave a rare interview to Arab News.[25] He described his first execution in 1998: "The criminal was tied and blindfolded. With one stroke of the sword I severed his head. It rolled metres away... People are amazed how fast [the sword] can separate the head from the body."[25] He also said that, before an execution, he visits the victim's family to seek forgiveness for the criminal, which can lead to the criminal's life being spared.[25] Once an execution goes ahead, his only conversation with the prisoner is to tell him or her to recite the Muslim declaration of belief, the Shahada.[25] "When they get to the execution area, their strength drains away. Then I read the execution order, and at a signal I cut the prisoner's head off," he said.[25]
Criticism[edit]
The use of public beheading as the method of capital punishment and the number of executions have attracted strong international criticism.[70] Several executions, particularly of foreign workers, have sparked international outcries.
In June 2011, Ruyati binti Satubi, an Indonesian maid, was beheaded for killing her employer's wife, reportedly after years of abuse.[71][72] Her execution drew extensive criticism from Indonesian press, government and human rights groups.[73]
In September 2011, a Sudanese migrant worker was beheaded for sorcery,[74] an execution which Amnesty International condemned as "appalling".[75] Amnesty International said that Saudi Arabia doesn't have a formal law on Sorcery but some conservative clerics call for strictest punishment possible.
In January 2013, a Sri Lankan maid named Rizana Nafeek was beheaded after she was convicted of murdering a child under her care, an event which she attributed to the infant's choking. The execution drew international condemnation of the government's practices,[76] and led Sri Lanka to recall its ambassador.[77]
These are not isolated cases. According to figures by Amnesty International, in 2010 at least 27 migrant workers were executed and, as of January 2013, more than 45 foreign maids were on death row awaiting execution.[78]
In practice, capital punishment has also been used to sentence political protesters. Ali al-Nimr and Dawoud al-Marhoon were both arrested at the age of 17 in 2012 during Arab Spring protests in the Eastern Province, tortured, forced to confess, and sentenced to decapitation in 2014 and 2015.[79][80][81] Sheikh Nimr al Nimr, an independent sheikh critical of the Saudi government and popular among youth and Ali al Nimr's uncle, was also arrested in 2012 and sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court in 2014 for his role in encouraging political protests.[82] Nimr al Nimr was executed on 2 January 2016, along with 46 other people, mostly terrorists arrested in the 2000s.[83] From the available sources about the Nimr al-Nimr case it seems that Saudi officials use the term "terrorism" as cover label for "thought crimes" which in other countries would be considered normal work of an opposition politician.[84]
On 20 October 2020, Human Rights Watch revealed that Saudi authorities were seeking the death penalty against eight men from Saudi Arabia who were charged with protest-related crimes. Some of the alleged crimes were committed when they were children, between the ages of 14 and 17. One of them, charged for a non-violent crime, allegedly committed it at the age of 9. All men who were at risk of capital punishment were in pretrial detention for nearly two years.[85]
In March 2021, Human Rights Watch claimed that a Saudi man, Abdullah al-Huwaiti, could face execution for an alleged murder and robbery he committed when he was 14 years old. Disregarding the 2020 ruling abolishing the death penalty for juveniles, al-Huwaiti faces execution following an unfair trial.[86][87]
On 15 June 2021, the Ministry of Interior of Saudi Arabia announced that it executed Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish (26), who was allegedly charged for forming a terror cell and trying to carry out an armed revolt at the age of 17.[88] He was detained since May 2015 for participating in anti-government protests. For years, he was placed in solitary confinement and was brutally beaten several times. During the trial, Al-Darwish told the court that he was tortured to confess the charges against them. Despite all the facts, he was sentenced to death and was ultimately beheaded.[89][90] On 8 June 2021, Amnesty International had urged the Saudi authorities to “immediately halt all plans to execute Mustafa al-Darwish”, stating that the “death penalty is an abhorrent violation of the right to life in all circumstances”.[91]
On 15 December 2013, another Saudi citizen, Aqil Al-Faraj, was arrested due to a discrepancy in the chassis number of the vehicle he was driving. After his arrest, several charges were brought against him, including participation in the formation of a terrorist cell affiliated with a secret armed organization that aims at armed revolt against the ruler, destabilizing internal security, killing security men, concealing arms, and drug dealing. On 1 June 2021, the Court of Appeal ratified the Taazir death sentence issued against him, which means that only the approval of the Supreme Court and the signature of the King before execution remained.[92]
Extrajudicial executions[edit]
Saudi Arabia does not tolerate dissidents and it can impose penalties on such people. Saudi Arabia is also responsible for the extrajudicial assassination of Saudi-American journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. He was executed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a squad of Saudi assassins who had been sent to Turkey with the express purpose of entrapping and killing him.[93]