Amnesty International urges stop to Saudi executions

Amnesty-InternationalAmnesty International on Friday asked Saudi Arabia, to put a halt to executions in the country.  AI said that in most cases there is often a lack of basic procedural due process. AI cited an alarming increase in executions in 2011, according to AI report in most of the cases they rely solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress or deception.

According to AI, in 2011, at least 27 people have already been executed, equal to the total sum of executions in 2010. Philip Luther, AI Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said that more than 100 people are there on death row and many of them are foreign nationals. Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty to violent, as well as non-violent crimes.

AI released a report in 2008, finding that Saudi Arabia executed more people per capita than any other nation. According to that report, at least 1,252 people were put to death in 24 countries, with Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Pakistan and the US accounting for the vast majority of the executions.

Amnesty International urges stop to Saudi executions

Report by Reuben