37 People Beheaded by Saudi Arabian Government in Mass Execution

[Xtatic]

Maybe we’ll have a video of this soon.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday beheaded 37 Saudi citizens, most of them minority Shiites, in a mass execution across the country over what it said was terrorism-related crimes. It publicly pinned one man’s body and severed head to a pole as a warning to others.

The executions were likely to stoke further regional and sectarian tensions between rivals Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite-led Iran.

Dissident Ali Ahmed, who runs the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C., identified 34 of those executed as Shiites based on the names announced by the Interior Ministry.

"This is the largest mass execution of Shiites in the kingdom's history," he said.

Amnesty International also confirmed the majority of those executed were Shiite men. The rights group said they were convicted "after sham trials" that relied on confessions extracted through torture.
The mass killing marked the largest number of executions in a single day in Saudi Arabia since Jan. 2, 2016, when the kingdom executed 47 people over what it said were terrorism-related crimes. That was the largest mass execution Saudi Arabia had carried out since 1980.

Among those executed in 2016 were four Shiites, including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose death sparked protests from Pakistan to Iran and the ransacking of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi-Iran ties have not recovered and the embassy remains shuttered.

King Salman ratified by royal decree Tuesday's mass execution and that of 2016. The king, who has empowered his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has asserted a bolder and more decisive leadership style than previous monarchs since ascending to the throne in 2015.

The kingdom and its allies have also been emboldened by President Trump's unwavering dedication to pressuring Iran's leadership, which includes his decision to pull out of a nuclear agreement with Iran and re-impose punishing sanctions to cripple its economy.

Ahmed described Tuesday's executions as a politically motivated message to Iran.

"This is political," he said. "They didn't have to execute these people, but it's important for them to ride the American anti-Iranian wave."

Ahmed said among those executed was Shiite religious leader Sheik Mohammed al-Attiyah. Among the charges against him was that he tried to form a sectarian group in the western city of Jidda, Ahmed said. Ahmed said the sheik publicly spoke of the need to work closely with Saudi Arabia's Sunni majority and would lead small prayer groups among Shiites.

Saudi Arabia's supreme council of Muslim scholars said the executions were carried out in accordance with Islamic law. The Interior Ministry used language that indicated they were all beheadings.

The Interior Ministry statement said those executed had adopted extremist ideologies and formed terrorist cells with the aim of spreading chaos and provoking sectarian strife. It said the individuals had been found guilty according to the law and ordered executed by the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh, which handles terrorism trials, and the country's high court.

The individuals were found guilty of attacking security installations with explosives, killing a number of security officers and cooperating with enemy organizations against the interests of the country, the Interior Ministry said.

The statement was carried across state-run media, including the Saudi news channel Al Ekhbariya. The statement read on the state-run news channel opened with a verse from the Koran that condemns attacks that aim to create strife and disharmony and warns of great punishment for those who carry out such attacks.

The Interior Ministry said the body of one of the men — Khaled bin Abdel Karim al-Tuwaijri — was publicly pinned to a pole for several hours in a process that is not frequently used by the kingdom and has sparked controversy for its grisly display. The statement did not say in which city the public display took place.

Amnesty International said 11 of the men were convicted of spying for Iran and sentenced to death after a "grossly unfair trial." At least 14 others executed were convicted of violent offenses related to their participation in anti-government demonstrations in Shiite-populated areas of Saudi Arabia between 2011 and 2012, Amnesty said.

Among those put to death was a young man convicted of a crime that took place when he was 16 years old, according to Amnesty.

A number of Saudi analysts and pro-government writers brought in to discuss the executions on Al Ekhbariya said they are a powerful sign that the country's leadership will not hesitate to use the full might of the judicial system to punish Saudis who seek to disrupt the kingdom's security.

Those executed hailed from Riyadh, Mecca, Medina and Asir, as well as Shiite Muslim-populated areas of the Eastern Province and Qassim. The executions also took place in those various regions.

The killings bring the number of people executed since the start of the year to about 100, according to official announcements. Last year, the kingdom executed 149 people, most of them drug smugglers convicted of nonviolent crimes, according to Amnesty's most recent figures.

Executions are traditionally carried out after midday prayers and the bodies are displayed for about three hours, until late afternoon prayers.

This latest mass execution comes on the heels of the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 300 people, including two Saudi nationals. That attack was claimed by Islamic State.
Also, on Sunday four Islamic State gunmen were reported killed by Saudi security forces while trying to attack a security building north of the capital, Riyadh.

Local Islamic State affiliates and Saudis inspired by its ideology launched a series of attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2014 and 2016, killing dozens of people, including security officers and Shiite worshipers. The last major attempted attack is believed to have been two years ago.

The group, like Al Qaeda in the past, is determined to bring down the U.S.-allied royal family of Saudi Arabia. It has sought to undermine the Al Saud royal family's legitimacy, which is rooted in part in its claim to implement Islamic sharia law and to be the protectors of Islam's most sacred sites in Mecca and Medina that are at the center of hajj.

Pictured: Saudi Arabia's King Salman, shown last month, ratified by royal decree Tuesday's mass execution. (Fethi Belaid / Associated Press)

Story: https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-...423-story.html

[kellyhound]

like always they can do whatever they want as they're sitting on oil/$$

[Xtatic]

This is related to the story I posted yesterday found here. https://www.documentingreality.com/f...cution-199996/. I did not know how to indicate a new development on the older thread.

A Saudi Arabian man who was arrested as a teenager as he was getting ready to fly to America to begin his studies at Western Michigan University was beheaded by the government Tuesday, according to a report from an official press agency.
Mujtaba al-Sweikat was 17 when he was detained at King Fahd International Airport in 2012. Earlier that year, Al-Sweikat allegedly attended a pro-democracy rally in the midst of the Arab Spring, which led to his arrest. He was intending to visit Western Michigan, where he had been accepted as a student, the university confirmed to the Free Press in 2017.

More than 35 people, including al-Sweikat, were listed on a release from the Saudi Press Agency, announcing the killings.

Sweikat was charged with armed disobedience against the king, as well as attacking, shooting and injuring security forces, civilians and passersby. He was also accused of destroying public property, causing chaos and disrupting the peace, by participating in a terrorist cell, to make and deliver Molotov cocktails.

During his time in custody, Sweikat was severely beaten all over his body, including the soles of his feet, and convicted on the basis of a confession extracted through torture, according to Reprieve, an international human rights group that has offices in New York and London and operates with partners around the world.

After his arrest, he was not allowed to contact anybody for three days, and his family were not allowed to visit him for three months, during which time he was kept in solitary confinement, according to Reprieve.

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, expressed her concern over the killing.

"The violent killing of Mutjaba al-Sweikat is disturbing," she said in a statement.

"Mutjaba had a bright future ahead of him and Michigan was prepared to welcome him as a student. Instead, he faced inhumane torture and pain ultimately leading to his execution.

"Every human, regardless of where they may be in the world, should have the right to speak openly without fear of persecution or death. Right now, I stand in unity with Mutjaba’s family and friends. I will never stop speaking up for all who promote free speech and due process around the world.”

Hearing and death sentence

In August 2015, Mujtaba was brought before the Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh. Mujtaba was not given prior notice of the hearing and was not given access to a lawyer. He was convicted solely based on a “confession” extracted under torture, Reprieve said in a statement.

In June 2016, the Riyadh court sentenced Mujtaba and 13 other co-accused to death, rejecting the Bureau of Prosecution and Investigation’s submission for a mandatory death sentence, instead issuing its decision under the court’s discretionary powers.

Despite his raising his torture and ill treatment at trial, and the United Nations' frequent communications on his behalf, the kingdom did not provide him with an effective way to complain, did not conduct an investigation in line with the Istanbul Protocol and did not commute his death sentence for running counter to the prohibition against execution for juveniles, Reprieve said.

The government eventually responded to the UN Special Procedures in January 2018, denying all allegations made in the complaints and stating that the evidence provided by the United Nations was false.

100 executions this year

The kingdom has executed more than 100 people in the first four months of 2019, and is on track to kill more than 300 this year, Reprieve posted on Twitter on Tuesday.

"This is another egregious display of brutality by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman," Reprieve Director Maya Foa said in a statement. "At least three of the people executed today were arrested as teenagers and tortured into false confessions. Many were convicted of non-lethal crimes, such as attending protests.

"That the Saudi regime believes it has impunity to carry out such patently illegal executions, without notice, should shock its international partners into action. The U.S. and the U.K., in particular, must ensure there are consequences, and that no one else is unlawfully executed for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”

As news of al-Sweikat's imprisonment was publicized in 2017, faculty at Western Michigan issued an open letter calling for his release.

"As academics and teachers, we take pride in defending the rights of all people, wherever they may be in the world, to speak freely and debate openly without hindrance or fear. We publicly declare our support for Mujtaba'a and the 13 others facing imminent execution. No one should face beheading for expressing beliefs in public protests.

"Mujtaba'a showed great promise as an applicant for English language and pre-finance studies. He was arrested at the airport gates as he readied to board a plane to visit our campus. We were unaware that at the moment we were ready to welcome him, he was locked away, beaten and tortured and made to 'confess' to acts for which he was condemned to death."

Source: https://www.freep.com/story/news/edu...at/3552679002/

[wickedlara]

Why are the Republicans, especially Trump, so subservient to this this shithole country?

[wickedlara]

Originally Posted by kellyhound

like always they can do whatever they want as they're sitting on oil/$$

Iraq, Iran and a few other countries the Republicans hate over there have oil as well.

[Xtatic]

Originally Posted by wickedlara

Why are the Republicans, especially Trump, so subservient to this this shithole country?

Trump said he has 'no financial interests in Saudi Arabia.' But his businesses have made millions from the Saudi government, and the crown prince gave his New York City hotel a huge boost.

How do we tolerate the silence of our leaders in the face of these atrocities, much less their insistence that we be complicit in that conduct with our money and whatever's left of our international prestige?

Other presidents at least would have been able to feign embarrassment that their perception of the national interest required us to do business with titled sadists. This president remains silent on our behalf of inexcusable butchery—whether committed one murder at a time, as in the case of Jamal Khashoggi, or committed 37 times at once.

[el_topo]

We have no right to step into the matters of other countries. We never did. And besides, who gives a fuck, its just muslims killing muslims