2022 Saudi Arabia mass execution

{{Further|Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia}}

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Saudi Arabia.{{Cite book|first=Knut S.|last=Vikør| year=2005 | title=Between God and the Sultan: A History of Islamic Law|url=https://archive.org/details/betweengodsultan0000vikr|url-access=registration|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/betweengodsultan0000vikr/page/266 266]–267}} Execution is usually carried out by beheading with a sword or occasionally by shooting in public. Despite having signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child,{{cite web |date=1 May 2020 |title=IBAHRI welcomes Saudi Arabia's move towards total abolition of the death penalty |url=https://www.ibanet.org/Article/NewDetail.aspx?ArticleUid=0fc3dff0-7579-4ef9-a190-2965217a1f1b |access-date=4 May 2020 |work=International Bar Association}} Saudi Arabia executed offenders who were juveniles at the time of the crime up until 26 April 2020.{{Cite news |date=2020-04-26 |title=Saudi Arabia scraps execution for those who committed crimes as minors: Commission |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-rights-execution-idUSKCN2280LI |access-date=2020-04-26}} In January 2022, there were at least 43 detainees threatened with execution, including 12 minors.{{Cite web|url=https://www.esohr.org/en/%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a9-2021-%d8%a7%d8%b6%d8%b7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d9%8a/|title=إعدامات السعودية 2021: اضطراب القرار السياسي – المنظمة الأوروبية السعودية لحقوق الإنسان}}

In recent years, the kingdom has carried out a number of mass executions of civilians convicted for terrorism, most notably a mass execution of 47 convicts in 2016 and another one of similar scale in 2019.{{cite web |date=2016-01-02 |title=Saudi Arabia Carries Out Largest Mass Execution Since 1980 – Eurasia Review |url=http://www.eurasiareview.com/04012016-saudi-arabia-carries-out-largest-mass-execution-since-1980/ |access-date=2016-01-06 |website=Eurasiareview.com}}{{cite news |last1=Qiblawi |first1=Tamara |last2=Balkiz |first2=Ghazi |date=2019-04-26 |title=Exclusive: Saudi Arabia said they confessed. But court filings show some executed men protested their innocence |publisher=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/26/middleeast/saudi-executions-court-documents-intl/index.html |url-status=live |accessdate=2019-04-26 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426055318/https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/26/middleeast/saudi-executions-court-documents-intl/index.html |archivedate=2019-04-26}}

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet noted the extremely broad Saudi definition of terrorism, which generically includes nonviolent persons in opposition to the ruling government in addition to those espousing atheism or any religion other than Wahhabi Islam.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-dissidents-9228389.html|title=All atheists are terrorists, Saudi Arabia declares|date=2014-04-01|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2018-12-09}}{{cite news |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113922 |title=UN rights chief decries mass execution of 81 people in Saudi Arabia |publisher=United Nations |work=UN News |date=14 March 2022 |access-date=18 March 2022}}

On 12 March 2022, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia carried out the execution of 81 men on charges of loyalty to foreign terrorist organizations and holding deviant beliefs, as Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on the same day.{{cite web |title=Saudi Arabia executes 81 people in a single day |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/12/saudi-arabia-executes-81-people-in-a-single-day |website=Al Jazeera |access-date=2022-03-12}} The interior ministry claimed in a statement, the crimes perpetrated by these men include committing loyalty to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda and the Houthi movement and murdering innocent people. 37 of those executed were Saudi nationals who were convicted of one count of trying to assassinate government employees, smuggling weapons into the country, and targeting police stations, vital economic locations, and convoys. The SPA did not report on how they were executed.{{cite web |title=SPA: Saudi Arabia Executes 81 Men for Terrorism, Other Charges |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/spa-saudi-arabia-executes-81-men-for-terrorism-other-charges/6482325.html |website=Voice of America |date=12 March 2022 |access-date=2022-03-12}}{{cite web |last1=Yee |first1=Vivian |title=Saudi Arabia Puts 81 to Death, Despite Promises to Curb Executions |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/12/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-executions.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=2022-03-12}} According to the SPA report, the charged were supplied with the right to a lawyer and their full rights under Saudi law during the judicial process.

These mass executions were carried out as the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, claimed that the country was reforming the judiciary and restricting the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.{{cite news |last1=Kalin and Said |first1=Stephen and Summer |title=Saudi Arabia Puts 81 People to Death in Its Largest Execution Ever |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-puts-81-people-to-death-in-its-largest-execution-ever-11647104991 |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=12 March 2022 |access-date=2022-03-12}} According to The New York Times, the war in Yemen, the killing of Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist, in a Saudi consulate in 2018, the execution of minors, and a crackdown on dissent have thwarted Saudi Arabia's efforts to create a clean image in recent years.

Human rights groups condemned the executions. Ali Adubusi, head of the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights said: "These executions are the opposite of justice".{{cite web |last1=Gambrell |first1=Jon |title=Saudi Arabia puts 81 people to death in kingdom's largest mass execution in decades |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/saudi-arabia-mass-execution-1.6382805 |website=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=2022-03-12}} There were no charges that deserve the death penalty under the benchmarks that Saudi Arabia has made public. Some of the executions were only accused of participating in rights protests. Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud said that the country was reforming the judiciary and restricting the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.{{cite news |last1=Benmansour |first1=Mohammed |title=Saudi court issues new death sentence against man arrested as juvenile |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-court-issues-new-death-sentence-against-man-arrested-juvenile-2022-03-03/ |website=Reuters|date=3 March 2022 }}

On 23 December 2022, The Daily Telegraph stated in a letter to James Cleverly signed by MPs the party including David Davis, Hilary Benn, Peter Bottomley, Andy Slaughter and Alistair Carmichael: Saudi Arabia may carry out a mass execution during the Christmas holidays. The kingdom carried out executions during the festive and New Year periods as did it 2016 and 2020 when it is more difficult for the international community to react quickly.{{cite news |last1=James |first1=Rothwell |title=Saudi Arabia 'plans to use Christmas as cover for mass executions' |newspaper=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/23/saudi-arabia-plan-use-christmas-cover-mass-executions/ |date=23 December 2022}}

{{Portal|Law|Saudi Arabia}}

• 2017–19 Saudi Arabian purge
• 2018–2019 Saudi crackdown on feminists
• Awad bin Mohammed Al-Qarni

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Category:2022 in Saudi Arabia

Category:21st-century executions by Saudi Arabia

Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Saudi Arabia

Category:Political and cultural purges

Category:Human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia

Category:Political repression in Saudi Arabia

Category:Qatif conflict