Muslim World Scholars Urged to Condemn Execution of Innocent People in Saudi Arabia
Addressing an open session of the parliament on Tuesday, Ghalibaf said the recent mass executions in Saudi Arabia violated the most fundamental human rights and international laws.
He said the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns this appalling act, adding that all governments should also denounce such inhumane measures and work to prevent them from happening in the future.
Ghalibaf also slammed the Western governments’ hypocrisy when it comes to the issue of human rights.
State news agency Saudi Press Agency said on Saturday that the authorities had executed 81 people in one day on a variety of offences.
Of the 81 people, 73 were Saudi citizens, seven were Yemeni and one was a Syrian national.
The 2022 executions exceeded the total number of Saudi Arabia’s punishments by death throughout last year.
The kingdom’s last mass execution occurred in early January 2016, when Saudi authorities executed 47 people, including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, who had vociferously called for democracy in the kingdom and advocated anti-regime protests. Nimr had been arrested in Qatif, Eastern Province, in 2012.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed more than 900 prisoners in an increasing rate. In 2019 alone, Saudi Arabia set a record number of executions after authorities executed 184 people, despite a general decrease in the number of executions around the world.
In April 2020, Reprieve, a UK-based non-profit organization, said Saudi Arabia had carried out its 800th execution. The report added that executions had almost doubled in only five years in comparison with the 423 executions conducted in Saudi Arabia from 2009 through 2014.
