Saudi Arabia executed seven young men this morning
for the crime of robbery. That might seem a bit extreme, but in the Kingdom,
there is no official Penal Code that outlines crimes and their associated
punishment. Thus death sentences are handed down by judges based upon their
subjective interpretation of Shari’a law. While the most infamous punishment
for simple theft in the country is the removal of the offending limb,
executions are incredibly common in Saudi Arabia, earning the condemnation of
the international community. 345 people were beheaded publicly between
2007-2010 and a person was executed on charges of “sorcery” as recently as
2012. The human rights situation in the country is dismal all around: torture
abounds in places of detention, unfair trials using forced confessions as the
sole piece of evidence are widespread, and arbitrary detention is commonplace
for any criticism of government policies. Yet the use of the death penalty as a
final solution to get rid of people the government views as “unwanted” is
perhaps the most disturbing.
Protests against the use of the death penalty in KSA, courtesy of EuroNews
