Affront To Justice

Death penalty in Saudi Arabia

The rate of executions in Saudi Arabia is one of the highest in the world. Amnesty International has recorded more than 1800 executions in the last 28 years, but the real figures may be much higher. The statistics reveal disturbing patterns of discrimination of vulnerable individuals. Many of those executed, almost half of the recorded total, were foreign nationals, mostly migrant workers form poor and developing countries. Saudi Arabian juvenile offenders and women have also been among those sentenced to death, also after court proceedings that failed to satisfy international standards of fair trial.

Saudi Arabia raised hopes for change when it began introducing legal and judicial reforms in 2001, but this hope is now turning to disappointment. Amnesty International's records show that the number of executions in 2007 exceeded 100 for the first time since 2000. Here again, the real figures may be much higher. In December 2007, the UN General Assembly called for a global moratorium on executions, but the Saudi Arabian authorities have refused to conform.They must do so right now. The gross unfairness and discrimination described in this report only underline the inherent cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty. It must become a thing of the past.