Amnesty: Saudi Arabia silence Shia dissent with execution

Amnesty: Saudi Arabia silence Shia dissent with execution

Saudi Arabia is using the death penalty as a means to silence Shia dissent, says Amnesty International.

“These brutal executions are the latest act in the Saudi Arabian authorities’ ongoing persecution of the Shia minority. The death penalty is being deployed as a political weapon to punish them for daring to protest against their treatment and to cow others into silence,” said the group’s director for research, Lynn Maalouf, on Wednesday.

Maalouf made the remarks after Saudi Arabia executed four Shias in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province over allegations of conducting terrorist activities.