Saudi Arabia put 81 people to death on Saturday in what was the largest mass execution in the Kingdom’s history. The move came despite Riyadh’s promises to reduce capital punishment.
The Saudi Interior Ministry released a statement on Saturday saying that those executed “were convicted of various crimes including murdering innocent men, women and children.” It also stated that some individuals were executed for “pledging allegiance to foreign terrorist organisations” like ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the Houthis.
The Ministry also noted that the individuals “were arrested, tried in Saudi courts, through trials overseen by a total of 13 judges over 3 separate stages of trial for each individual.” Furthermore, they were “guaranteed their full rights under Saudi law during the judicial process,” the statement mentioned.
The Ministry stressed that Saudi Arabia “will continue to take a strict and unwavering stance against terrorism and extremist ideologies that threaten the stability of the entire world.”
More people were executed on Saturday than in all of 2021, when 67 peop1e were executed. The last time Saudi Arabia executed more than 50 people in a single day was in 1980, when 63 men were put to death for their role in the seizure of the Grand Mosque at Mecca in 1979.
Saudi Arabia has consistently ranked among the top five global executioners in Amnesty International’s annual review of the death penalty. In 2020, Saudi Arabia ranked behind only China, Iran, Egypt, and Iraq in the use of the death penalty as a form of punishment.
The executions drew widespread criticism from rights organisations. Reprieve, a London-based human rights organisation, criticised Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) for making false promises. “The world should know by now that when MBS promises reform, bloodshed is bound to follow,” the group tweeted on Saturday. It added: “Just last week the Crown Prince told journalists he plans to modernise Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system, only to order the largest mass execution in the country’s history.”
Noting that there are “prisoners of conscience” in Saudi Arabia facing the death penalty, Reprieve urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “speak up and condemn” the killings in Saudi Arabia during his upcoming visit to Riyadh.
"Prime Minister @BorisJohnson is due to visit Saudi Arabia soon, to beg for Saudi oil to replace Russian gas. We cannot show our revulsion for Putin’s atrocities by rewarding those of the Crown Prince. Johnson must speak up and condemn these killings." ENDS
— Reprieve (@Reprieve) March 12, 2022
The executions follow several promises by Saudi Arabia to take steps to reduce the usage of the death penalty. Last year, the Saudi government said that it had suspended the usage of capital punishment for drug-related offences and MBS even stated the country aims to reduce the punishment for certain offences from death to life imprisonment.
Moreover, the Crown Prince has been implementing several reforms as part of his Vision 2030 initiative, which seeks to modernise Saudi society. Since 2018, the Gulf monarchy has permitted women to drive, allowed them into sports stadiums, and passed a decree allowing women above 21 to travel outside of the country, and stay on their own without the permission of a male guardian.