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U.S. | I'm a Death Row Pastor. They're Just Ordinary Folks

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In the early 1970s I was a North Carolinian, white boy from the South attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and working in East Harlem as part of a program. In my senior year, I visited men at the Bronx House of Detention. I had never been in a prison or jail, but people in East Harlem were dealing with these places and the police all the time. This experience truly turned my life around.

Saudi executes 153 in 2016: Amnesty International

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Public execution of a Burmese woman in Saudi Arabia in 2016
Public execution of a Burmese woman in Saudi Arabia in 2016
Saudi Arabia executed more than 150 prisoners in 2016 for breaking kingdom's strict Islamic laws

Saudi Arabia executed more than 150 prisoners under their strict Islamic laws, new figures have shown.

The ultra-conservative kingdom, one of the world's most prolific executioners, punishes crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape, homosexuality and apostasy with the death penalty.

According to Amnesty International a total of 153 executions were carried out in 2016, slightly down in the 158 carried out the previous year.

Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47 people were put to death for 'terrorism' offences on a single day last January.

They included prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution prompted Iranian protesters to torch Saudi diplomatic missions, leading Riyadh to sever relations.

Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword and the grisly event can often draw a small crowd.

Human rights group Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia last year was the highest for 2 decades.

And the level of executions was criticised today by Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK's head of policy and government affairs, who said the kingdom is 'making a mockery of justice'.

Mr Hogarth told the Independent: 'The death penalty is always cruel and unnecessary, but the Saudi justice system lacks evens the basics of a fair trial system.

'It's truly frightening that its courts are sentencing so many people to death... Saudi Arabia is making a mockery of justice and dozens of people are paying with their lives.

'It's time that 'strategic allies' like the UK started speaking out about this shocking state of affairs. For too long Downing Street has bent over backwards to avoid 'offending' the Saudi royals.'

Source: dailymail.co.uk, December 31, 2016


Saudi executes 153 in 2016


Saudi Arabia carried out 153 executions in 2016, according to an AFP tally based on official announcements, slightly down from the year before.

The ultra-conservative kingdom is one of the world's most prolific executioners and has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape, homosexuality and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Rights group Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia carried out at least 158 death sentences in 2015, coming third after Iran and Pakistan.

Amnesty's figures do not include secretive China.

Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" offences on a single day in January.

They included prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution prompted Iranian protesters to torch Saudi diplomatic missions, leading Riyadh to sever relations.

Source: Agence France-Presse, December 31, 2016


Saudi Arabia: Generosity of Saudi Man Saves Indian from Execution


December 28, 2016: Limbadri, an Indian worker, never had it in his wildest dreams that he would escape death sentence especially after he had spent eight years behind bars waiting for execution.

He thought his head would be separated from his body in an implantation of a court rule which sentenced him to capital punishment after killing a Saudi during a fight.

With the date of execution coming closer, Awad bin Guraiah Al-Yami, a Saudi businessman, intervened with the family of the victim to pardon the killer offering them SR1.3 million as diyah (blood money).

Yami’s good offices were fruitful when the family accepted the blood money and pardoned the murderer.

The court endorsed the pardon and the Indian worker is now waiting to be released from prison.

The Indian was working in a farm in Najran.

Source: saudigazette.com.sa, December 18, 2016

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