Riyadh: In an unprecedented spike in country's capital punishment, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on course of executing over 100 people in first six months of 2016.
Saudi Arabia on Monday carried out its 95th execution in 2016, putting it on track to top last year's number of capital punishments, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Fahd Houssawi, a Nigerian man, was executed in the western city of Taif, he was found guilty of strangling a policeman and beating him to death, the ministry said.
The human right watchdog Amnesty International has warned that at the current rate Saudi Arabia could see more than 100 executions in the first half of 2016.
Executions in Saudi Arabia have been surging dramatically for two years now and this appalling trend shows no sign of slowing,” said James Lynch, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International.
The steep increase in executions is even more appalling given the pervasive flaws in Saudi Arabia’s justice system which mean that it is entirely routine for people to be sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials. The Saudi Arabian authorities should end their reliance on this cruel and inhuman form of punishment and establish an official moratorium on executions immediately.”
Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47 people were put to death for “terrorism” offences on a single day in January.
They included prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr whose execution prompted Iranian protesters to torch Saudi diplomatic missions.
His nephew, Ali al-Nimr - who was arrested along with two others juveniles is currently on death row. Now 21, Amnesty says he was sentenced to death based on “confessions” allegedly extracted through torture, in a violation of international human rights standards.
In addition to murder, a number of other crimes carry capital punishment in the Kingdom, including apostasy, adultery, robbery, kidnapping, and rape.
Last year a total of 158 people were killed in death penalties issued by Saudi Arabia, surging by 76 percent compared with 2014. Most are either killed by beheading or firing squad, and Amnesty International has reported that bodies are sometimes displayed in public.
