Saudi Arabia says it cut public beheadings by 85 per cent in 2020
The Saudi Human Rights Commission (SHRC) documented 27 executions in 2020, which it said represented an 85% drop compared to 2019.
Last year 27 executions were reported, down from a record 184 in 2019. However, a third of them took place in December alone, raising fears of a new spike in 2021. Despite the moratorium, at least five inmates on death row were minors at the time of their offence.
The majority of the world’s executions take place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan. North Korea’s numbers are unknown but likely rank towards the top.
What lovely company to be in.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 15, 2021
It attributed that in part to an unannounced moratorium on executions for drug-related offences, “giving more non-violent criminals a second chance”.
The campaign group Reprieve warned that the number might increase this year.
“The decline can partly be attributed to the Covid-19 lockdown from February to April, when the government carried out no executions due to restrictions to control the virus,” it said.
“The government recommenced executions at an increased rate in the final quarter of 2020: approximately one-third of all executions last year were carried out in December alone.”
Don’t be like Saudi Arabia or China. Abolish the death penalty.
— manu #BLM 🖖 (@trekonomics) January 16, 2021
According to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia put to death a record 184 people in 2019. Half were foreign nationals and six were women.
Reprieve and the European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) are monitoring the cases of 80 people believed to be facing the death penalty at various stages of trial.
Many faced execution for crimes related to protected human rights, or had alleged substantial violations of their due process rights at trial, Reprieve said.
