Those executed since the end of the moratorium in Saudi Arabia have been four Syrian citizens, three Pakistanis, three Jordanians and seven Saudis.
The United Nations criticized this Tuesday that during the last two weeks the authorities of Saudi Arabia >have carried out executions “almost daily”, after an unofficial moratorium of nearly 21 months on the application of the death penalty in the country.
As reported by the Telegraph, most of these executions are carried out by beheading, and at the point of the sword.
“Since November 10, 17 men have been executed for what are described as drug and smuggling offences, with three executions on Monday,” said the spokeswoman for the High Commissioner for United Nations for Human Rights, Liz Throssell.
Thus, he stressed that “the resumption of executions for drug crimes in Saudi Arabia is a very regrettable step, especially when it comes days after a vast majority of the states in the UN General Assembly called for a global moratorium to capital punishment”.
“Since executions are only confirmed once they take place in Saudi Arabia, we have no information on how many people are on death row&# 8221;, he said, although he pointed to information revealing that a Jordanian would be “at risk of imminent execution.
Throssell stressed that the case of this man, Hussein abu al Jeir, was taken up by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, which determined that his arrest was arbitrary “lacking no legal basis” and given “serious concerns about his right to a fair trial.
“We call on the Saudi government to stop the imminent execution of al-Jeir and to comply with the opinion of the working group and withdraw his death sentence, release him immediately and unconditionally, and guarantee that he receives medical care, compensation and other reparations”, he said.
Finally, he reiterated that “ ;imposing the death penalty for drug offenses is incompatible with international norms and standards” and called on Riyadh to “adopt a formal moratorium on executions for drug offences, commute death sentences for drug offences, and guarantee the right to a fair trial for all defendants, including those accused of drug offences. crimes, in line with its international obligations”.