Anger as UN appoints Saudi official to top human rights job

Public execution in Saudi Arabia

THE United Nations (UN) has been attacked over the “scandalous” appointment of a Saudi Arabia official to a top human rights job – despite the repressive regime having beheaded more people this year than Islamic State.

The election of Faisal bin Hassan Trad to chair a panel of independent experts on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) follows a barrage of criticism aimed at the Saudi regime over its treatment of minorities and its apparent fondness for capital punishment.

Mr Trad, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador at the UN in Geneva, was appointed to the role in June - shortly after the kingdom posted an advert for eight new executioners.

UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer described the move as a victory for cheap oil over human rights.

Mr Neuer said: “Saudi Arabia has arguably the worst record in the world when it comes to religious freedom and women’s rights, and continues to imprison the innocent blogger Raif Badawi.”

Mr Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, who has been leading a campaign to free her husband, said the move gave Saudi Arabia “a green light to start flogging [him] again”.

A 2015 Human Rights Watch report accused the Saudis of “systematic discrimination against women and religious minorities” and claimed “authorities subjected hundreds of people to unfair trials and arbitrary detention”.

In the first six months of 2015, Saudi Arabia beheaded more than 100 people.

Decapitations, whippings and mutilations are common punishments for crimes including drug use and smuggling, homosexuality and adultery.

Only Iran carried out more killings.

Mr Neuer added: “It’s a sad comment on our world that oil continues to trump basic human rights principles.

“It’s bad enough that Saudi Arabia is a member of the council, but for the UN to go and name the regime as chair of a key panel only pours salt in the wounds for dissidents languishing in Saudi prisons.

"This UN appointment is like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief, and underscores the credibility deficit of a human rights council that already counts Russia, Cuba, China, Qatar and Venezuela among its elected members."

The HRC has long attracted controversy for granting membership to countries with dubious human rights records.

Its current members include China, Qatar and Russia.

Source: Express, Tom Batchelor, Sept. 21, 2015

Related content (video):
- Saudi Arabia executes Burmese woman; secret filming reveals medieval, barbaric punishment, January 12, 2015 (Warning: Graphic Content). In the chilling recording, Basim, who was found guilty in a Saudi Sharia court of sexually abusing and murdering her 7-year-old step-daughter, is heard protesting her innocence until the very end. "I did not kill. I did not kill," she screams repeatedly. In a statement released on their official website, the Saudi Ministry of Interior said that the brutally delivered death penalty was warranted due to the "enormity of the crime," and was carried out to "restore security" and "realize justice." "[The punishment] implements the rulings of God against all those who attack innocents and spill their blood. The government warns all those who are seduced into committing a similar crimes that the rightful punishment is their fate," the statement said.

Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr Sentenced To Crucifixion In Saudi Arabia For Attending Pro-Democracy Protest

Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr

A teenager who was arrested in 2012 for taking part in an anti-government protest in Saudi Arabia will be crucified and beheaded after his latest appeal was dismissed.

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was apprehended aged 17 after a closed trial found him guilty of encouraging pro-democracy protests using his Blackberry.

His rejected appeal was held in secret and has left all his legal avenues exhausted, meaning he could be executed at any moment.

Zena Esia, from the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights said: "The only way to get Ali out of this would be a royal pardon.

"Whether he will be released or not depends on what the king decides."

Despite this campaigners in the UK and across the world are losing hope that he will be granted the pardon by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

According to the International Business Times, al-Nimr's conviction is politically motivated as he is the nephew of prominent Shia cleric and campaigner Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, who was himself sentenced to death for terrorism offenses and "waging war on God."

Al-Nimr was allegedly tortured, denied access to a lawyer and not even told when his case was taking place until after he was sentenced to death. Some claim he was also forced to sign a confession despite there being no evidence against him.

Campaigners are now calling on the UK Government to put pressure on Saudi Arabia to block the execution.

Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at legal charity Reprieve said: "Ali was a vulnerable child when he was arrested and this ordeal began.

"It is hard to see what British interests are strong enough to trump the principle that we should not be supporting the 'crucifixion' of juveniles."

Source: Huffington Post UK, Eve Hartley, Sept. 22, 2015

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ...

Texas: Dexter Darnell Johnson to die on August 15; Larry Ray Swearingen on August 21

Dexter Darnell Johnson's execution is scheduled to occur at 6 pm CDT, on Thursday, August 15, 2019, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. 31-year-old Dexter is convicted of the murder of 23-year-old Maria Aparece and 17-year-old Huy Ngo on June 18, 2006, in Houston, Texas. Dexter has spent the last 11 years of his life on Texas’ death row. Dexter was born and raised in Texas. He dropped out of school following the 9th grade. During the early morning hours of June 18, 2006, Dexter Johnson and 4 of his friends, Ashley Ervin, Louis Ervin, Keithron Fields, and Timothy Randle, were driving around in Ashley’s car, looking for someone to rob. The group discovered Maria Aparece and Huy Ngo siting in Maria’s vehicle on the street. Johnson took a shot gun and stood outside the driver’s side door, threatening to shoot Maria if she did not cooperate. Johnson demanded she open the door, and when she did, he threw her into the ...

Florida executes Michael King

Killer of stay-at-home mom whose death led to 911 reform is executed Michael King kidnapped Denise Amber Lee from her Florida home in broad daylight in 2008. If it weren't for a botched 911 call, Lee may have survived the ordeal. Florida has executed a death row inmate for the rape and murder of a stay-at-home mom whose death exposed the vulnerabilities of the 911 system nationwide and led to reform within the industry. Michael King, 54, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, March 17, for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee. King abducted the married mother of 2 young sons from her home in broad daylight on Jan. 17, 2008, less than an hour before Lee's husband returned from work.

U.S. | These States Don’t Want You to See the Cruelty of Their Executions

The use of the death penalty has risen sharply in the United States, with more executions in 2025 than any year since 2009. It is a cruel and unjust development. In theory, the death penalty is reserved for “the worst of the worst.” In practice, it is very different. People who are executed for their crimes are disproportionately poor or intellectually disabled and often lacked good lawyers. They are also more likely to be sentenced to death if they have been convicted of killing a white person. Anthony Boyd, who maintained his innocence until Alabama executed him last year at age 54, had an inexperienced court-appointed lawyer and was convicted on disputed eyewitness testimony. Charles Flores, 56, has spent 27 years on death row in Texas for a murder conviction based solely on unreliable testimony from a hypnotized witness. Robert Roberson, who has autism, remains on death row there despite having been convicted on now-debunked evidence that he had shaken his daughter to death.

Alabama | Death row inmate granted clemency shares emotional message on day he was set to die

Alabama governor commuted death sentence of Charles Burton, 75, who didn't kill anyone An Alabama man who was outside a building when a man was killed in an armed robbery is looking at life as "a gift from God" after being granted clemency by the state’s governor just days before he was scheduled to be executed. Charles "Sonny" Burton, 75, was sentenced to death for his role in the robbery of a Talladega AutoZone store that left a man dead in 1991. While Burton left the store before Derrick DeBruce gunned down customer Doug Battle, he was tried and convicted as an accomplice, with prosecutors insisting Burton acted as the group’s leader in the armed robbery.

Texas executes Cedric Ricks

A Texas man was put to death Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013, apologizing profusely to her older son who survived with multiple stab wounds and witnessed the execution. Cedric Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Bedford. Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was stabbed 25 times and feigned death in order to survive.

Vietnam | 4 get death penalty in Ho Chi Minh City's drug trafficking ring

The People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday sentenced four defendants to death for their roles in a large-scale drug trafficking ring in the city. Those receiving the death penalty for "illegal trading narcotic substances" were Nguyen Binh Dai (born in 1988), Mac Vinh Khiem (1991), Thai Duy Quang (1990), and Nguyen Binh Trieu (1972), all residents of HCMC. In the same case, Tran Tong Dung, born in 1974, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for illegal drug trading and storage. Huynh My Ngoc (2002), Thach Ngoc Yen Vy (2001), and Nguyen Dai Nghia (1997) received life sentences, while Pham Thanh Phuong (1997) from An Giang Province was sentenced to 20 years in jail for illegally transporting drugs.

Missouri Man Said DNA Test Could Prove Innocence. He Was Executed Before a Court Ruled.

Lance Shockley died by lethal injection last year. State courts have rejected prisoners’ requests for DNA testing in recent years. Lance Shockley, a man on death row in Missouri, wanted items from the crime scene to undergo DNA testing to potentially prove his innocence. The court scheduled proceedings on his request — but the date set was for two days after his execution. Patty Prewitt can’t have her DNA tested — and fully clear her name — because her sentence was commuted and she is no longer in prison. And others, including Lamar McVay, who is serving 30 years for a robbery, can’t even get an answer from the state on his DNA testing request. He's still awaiting a ruling on a motion he filed in September 2022.

Iran hangs three men in first executions over January protests

Iran executed three men on Thursday who were accused of killing police officers during protests in January, with activists warning of the risk of a new surge in hangings as war rages with Israel and the United States. They were the first hangings Iran has carried out related to the nationwide demonstrations that were met with a brutal crackdown by the authorities. Rights groups said the trio, who included a teenager who had taken part in international wrestling competitions, were executed without a fair trial and had given confessions under torture.

Florida | Chadwick Willacy to be executed for burning Florida neighbor alive

A man convicted of the 1990 murder of his neighbor while burglarizing her home is scheduled to be the 6th person executed in Florida this year. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday, March 13, issued a death warrant for Chadwick Willacy, 58. Willacy was in Marlys Sather's home when she arrived home from work unexpectedly. He struck her several times, tied her up, attempted to strangle her, and then set the house on fire after removing the smoke detectors and dousing her with gasoline, prosecutors said. Willacy's record to that point included some minor offenses in New York and Florida, mostly drug-related.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog