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Daily News Analysis

Medieval Saudi regime surpasses its own record of mass executions in a single day

Crescent International

By executing 81 people in a single day, the Saudi regime has surpassed even its own horrible record of mass executions.

Among those beheaded on March 12 were 73 Saudi citizens, seven Yemenis and one Syrian.

Some of those beheaded were minors when arrested.

Most of those executed (41) were from the predominantly Shia region of Qatif, including a 13-year-old minor.

As is customary in such executions, the regime parrots off a long list of alleged crimes the accused are supposed to have committed.

For instance, 37 Saudi citizens were found ‘guilty’ in a single case for attempting to assassinate security officers and targeting police stations and convoys, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Not one security official was killed. It is not even known whether there was actually any attempt to kill them.

Often, the regime conflates demands for human rights with attempts at endangering the lives of the brutal Saudi police that would incur the death penalty.

The Saudi regime claimed that the accused were provided with the right to a lawyer and were guaranteed their full rights under ‘Saudi law’ during the judicial process.

Saudi laws, however, are deeply flawed.

They do not meet the minimum standards of justice required under international law.

People can be charged with treason and executed for disagreeing with government policy or demanding basic human rights.

Criticizing the king or crown prince are also grounds of execution.

Given that there is no codified law in Saudi Arabia makes a mockery of justice.

In most cases, there is also no right of appeal.

The regime routinely resorts to the allegation that persons had “allegiance to foreign terrorist organisations.”

This is meant to deflect criticism from human rights organizations as well as some western governments.

After all, what can be wrong with targeting individuals that sympathize with “terrorist groups”?

The problem is the Saudi regime itself is the biggest sponsor of terrorists.

This is a ploy used by the west as well, especially against Muslims.

The other allegation the Saudi regime hurls against people is holding “deviant beliefs”.

This can mean anything from being an adherent of the Shia school of thought, to asking for democratic rights in the archaic kingdom.

The latest mass executions, the largest in the kingdom’s modern history, dwarf those carried out in 2021 (67) and in 2020 (27).

In another bout of blood-letting in January 2016, the regime executed 46 people including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr whose only crime was to ask that the Shia population of the kingdom be granted the same rights as everyone else.

It could be asked why the regime resorted to such mass executions at this time.

Much of the world’s attention is focused on the fighting in Ukraine.

Further, the Americans are desperate to get the Saudis to pump more oil to keep prices at the pump in check.

The Saudi de facto ruler, Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) considered it an opportune moment to go on a mass killing spree.

It also serves to terrorize people into submission, sending a clear message that no opposition, however, mild would be tolerated.

The Saudi regime does not spare dissidents even when they escape abroad.

The case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, executed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 underscores this point.

The Saudi regime should not only be condemned for its barbaric practices but serious efforts must be made to get rid of this decrepit ruling family that has plagued the Muslim world for so long.


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