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A tour throughout Western nations and a commitment to fight violence against women is what the prince of Saudi Arabia, whose kingdom now leads a UN commission, is trying to show the world. However, at the same time, at home, his nation broke the record for executions: over 300 so far in 2024.
What’s more, the record was broken when it exceeded 300 and reached 304 individuals executed via capital punishment. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the last four people sentenced to the death penalty were three convicted of drug trafficking and another for murder.
That is the highest number in the last 30 years and the last 100 were carried out in about a month. Although Saudi lives have equal value, what is most striking is that a third of those executed were foreigners: 100 people. This would show that Saudi Arabia does not fear the repercussions of other countries, as it takes the lives of their citizens.
Only China and Iran surpass Saudi Arabia
This grants Saudi Arabia third place among the countries that execute the most people by means of the death penalty, only after China and Iran, according to Amnesty International. The organization highlights the increase in numbers (around 30%), considering that the previous record of executions in a single year in the country was 196 in 2022.
Taha al-Hajji, legal director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR), based in Berlin, called the «dizzying speed» with which the number of executions has increased «incomprehensible and inexplicable.»
Human Rights Watch denounces abuses
Human Rights Watch denounces that among these deaths, an increasing number of cases would not justify the death penalty. Since Human Rights do not allow the death penalty, except in serious cases, the organization points out that in Saudi Arabia many of the executions would not be justified.
Mostly to be people sentenced for non-violent crimes, particularly drug-related crimes. In contrast, Human Rights Watch points out that last year there were only two people executed for crimes associated with narcotics. While in 2024, it already exceeded 50.
They denounce that just a month ago, 29 people were executed for non-lethal terrorist activities. However, this category applies to those who participate in protests. So it would not apply in that case either.
Finally, Human Rights Watch points out that the prince of Saudi Arabia said that he was going to reduce the use of the death penalty. However, the evidence shows that he has done the contrary. Which contradicts the image that the monarch tries to give. Over time, he has even personally witnessed more than 1,400 executions himself.
One thing to note is that on social media there are complaints that at least 9 of those executed would have protested the situation suffered by Palestinian civilians at the hands of Israel. In Saudi Arabia, it would have cost them their lives. This would expose the lack of solidarity (and even complicity) of some Arab countries.
15 officials allegedly participated in the murder of opposition leader Jamal Khashogg
One of the most outstanding cases of a non-violent crime so far has been Jamal Khashogg. The opposition leader tried to marry his fiancée in Turkey. But he was asked to go to the Saudi consulate to obtain documentation and did not leave alive.
According to an investigation by The New York Times, at least 15 officials participated in his murder. Among them, they profile a former member of the royal guard who accompanied the Saudi prince on his recent trips to the West. He allegedly led the operation.
There was also a forensic medicine expert who was supposedly in charge of dismembering Khashogg’s body. The operation apparently included a double, who looked like Khashogg so that the surveillance cameras would record his alleged departure.
If proven, it would reveal that Saudi Arabia not only kills its citizens by beheading and other forms of execution, but also commits them extrajudicially and even on foreign soil, such as Turkey.
Jamal is said to have lost his life for questioning the regime. Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, government critics pay with their freedom. Saudi artist Mohammed al-Hazza, 48, was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for political cartoons that the kingdom’s leaders say insulted them.
«The case of Mohammed al-Hazza is an example of the suppression of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, which has not spared anyone, including artists,» Sanad’s operations director Samer Alshumrani told AFP.
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