Brutal executions are on the rise in Saudi Arabia under the reign of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with human rights activists calling the score of beheadings and crucifixions a ‘relentless killing spree’.
The Saudi authorities have killed hundreds in capital punishments since the Crown Prince’s tenure started in 2015, hitting a new milestone that Amnesty International said reveals the kingdom’s ‘chilling disregard for the right to life’.
Despite bin Salman promising he would limit the use of capital punishments, the number nearly doubled since he took the throne, according to NGO Reprieve. From 2010 to 2014 there was an average of 70.8 executions per year but from 2015 to 2022 there was an average of 129.5 executions per year – a rise of 82 per cent.
Last year, the kingdom carried out at least 172 executions, despite renewed promises from bin Salman to limit the scope of capital punishment.
Saudi Arabia even beheaded 81 people in a single day in March 2022 as part of the 193 executions Amnesty International said were carried out in the country – despite authorities saying it had been just 147.
The majority of state executions in Saudi Arabia are still carried out by sword decapitation – sometimes followed by the crucifixion of the body as the heads are displayed on a stick – but there have also been reports of prisoners sentenced to death by stoning.
Beheadings are only carried out by Saudi Arabia and the Taliban and can be used for a variety of crimes including murder, apostasy (abandoning Islam), homosexuality, witchcraft or sorcery, and ‘waging war on God’.
Hellbound and Down 