Tehran 21 April _Amnesty International has condemned Saudi Arabia over the spike in the number of executions in the country, stating that the death penalty is increasingly being used as a political weapon against Shia dissidents in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club(YJC)_The Britain-based human rights group said in its 2019 global review of the death penalty published on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people last year, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide.
It highlighted that Saudi authorities put 184 people to death in 2019, and the number was the highest Amnesty has ever recorded in a single year in the country.
Amnesty International pointed out that the figure shows an increase by 23 percent compared to the preceding year, when 149 executions were carried out in Saudi Arabia.
Of the 184 people executed in 2019, six were women.
Amnesty International then underscored that Saudi officials’ use of the death penalty as a political weapon against Shia dissidents has increased.
On April 23 last year, there was a mass execution of 37 men, 32 of whom were from Saudi Arabia’s Shia religious community.
Your Comment