The seven men were reportedly shot to death by a firing squad on Wednesday morning in the city of Abha, south of the oil-rich Gulf Kingdom. Rights groups have since suggested that two of them might have been juveniles at the time of the alleged crime.
EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement issued late Wednesday that she was appalled by the executions, stressing that the European bloc had recently made several appeals to Saudi authorities to commute their death sentences.
"With regard to this particular case, taking into account the nature of the crime and the age of the perpetrators, I sincerely regret that the opportunity was lost for the Saudi authorities to exercise their powers to spare them from the death penalty," Ashton said.
She said the European Union continues to oppose the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances and calls for a global moratorium as a first step towards its universal abolition.
Incidentally, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of execution in the world. In 2012 alone, at least 69 people were executed in Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich Kingdom applies the death penalty for a wide range of crimes, including drug offenses, apostasy, homosexuality, sorcery and witchcraft.
Source: RTT News, March 14, 2013
