Thursday, June 2, 2016

Saudi Arabia to behead 14 people--under "haraba" law

    Thursday, June 02, 2016   No comments

Absence of details provided by government officials, local Saudi media reported Wednesday that 14 people were sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia. According to Alarabiya, the decision was made by a court in the eastern city of Al Qatif with the predominantly Shia population.
The 14 people were charged of crime of "haraba", whose punishment is beheading by the sword.


The suspects were accused of several crimes, including the murder of representatives of law enforcement forces, the destruction of private property, the armed attack on collectors of a bank.

Some family members accuse the government of torturing their relatives to secure false confessions. They deny that their relatives were involved in any armed activities. They add that their relatives were arrested for participating in peaceful protests in 2011.


Saudi Arabia often uses anti-terror laws to prosecute dissidents, bloggers, and human rights activists.

In 2015, a Saudi blogger convicted of "insulting Islam" received a 1,000-lash sentence in addition to prison. Raif Badawi has been behind bars since 2012 for his online posts and running a blog called "Saudi Arabian Liberals," where he hosted political and religious debate and advocated secularism in a highly religious society.

In January 2016, 47 people were executed in Riyadh, including a prominent Shia theologian Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Arabia is among the top five countries with the highest number of executions in 2015. Other countries include China, Iran, Pakistan and the United States, according to Amnesty International.

Saudi Arabia's alliance with Western powers provide it with cover to commit human rights abuses at human and interfere in other nations affairs and face no consequences. For instance, Saudi Arabia is known supporter of terrorist groups in Syria but beheads dissidents who protest its abuses at home, while meeting no condemnation from Western governments.

The rulers of the kingdom often use perverted interpretation of Islam, Wahhabism, to carry out practices that are cruel and inhumane.

RS

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