Amnesty International says Saudi authorities carried out more than 100 executions in 2023

Amnesty International (AI) revealed that Saudi Arabia had carried out more than 100 executions since the beginning of this year; raising fears and concerns of rights organizations about the possibility of using this punishment to violate the international law.

The number of executions in 2023 is less than 2022 which was 196; yet it doubled from 2021 which saw 52 executions.

Hiba Marayef, director of Middle East and North Africa Programme of the Amnesty International, said that “The 100 executions Saudi Arabia carried out contradicts its promises to reduce this punishment, as it reveals its disregard for people’s lives.”

In her statement released last Friday, Marayef expressed her “serious fears over the lives of people whom were minors when they were caught.”

Last year, Saudi Arabia ranked third on the international level in the number of executions it conducted.

According to the Britain-based ‘Reprieve’ human rights organization, more than 1000 death penalties have been executed since King Salman came to power in 2015.

Marayef said that the average number of executions Saudi authorities carried out during last August was four per week.

Amnesty International emphasized that people from other nationalities were also executed. Among them were a Pakistani accused of drug trafficking and an American who was convicted of torturing and murdering his father.

It pointed out that the international law bans the use of death penalty in certain cases such as drug trafficking.