Saudi Arabia gives death sentence to more than 100 foreigners in 2024!

Saudi Arabia Executes Over 100 Foreigners: More than 100 foreigners have been hanged in Saudi Arabia this year. AFP, quoting a human rights organization, has described it as unprecedented. On Saturday (16 November 2024), a Yemeni citizen was hanged in the south-western region of Najran on charges of drug smuggling. The total number of foreigners sentenced to death this year has reached 101.

This figure is almost three times more than the last three years. 34 foreigners were given death sentence in 2023 and 2022. According to the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR), this number is the highest ever. ESOHR legal director Taha al-Hajji said it was the first time Saudi Arabia has executed so many foreigners in a year.

Criticism increased on Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has been facing international criticism for its harsh penal laws. According to Amnesty International, in 2023, Saudi Arabia was ranked third after China and Iran, where the maximum number of people were sentenced to death. In September, AFP reported that Saudi Arabia was set to exceed 196 executions in 2022, the most in three decades.

Questions on foreign prisoners and fairness

The foreign nationals to be hanged in Saudi Arabia in 2024 include citizens of Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, Egypt, Jordan and Ethiopia. According to ESOHR, foreign prisoners face greater difficulties in accessing justice in Saudi Arabia. ESOHR’s ​​Hajji said foreign prisoners often fall prey to major smugglers and face a range of violations from their arrest to their execution.

Increasing penalties for drug crimes

In 2022, Saudi Arabia ended a three-year ban on the death penalty for drug-related crimes, leading to an increase in this year’s figures. So far, executions have been carried out in 92 drug-related cases, in which 69 foreigners are involved. Jide Bassouni, head of the Middle East NGO Reprieve, said families of foreign nationals are afraid and worried that their loved ones could be sentenced to death at any time.

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