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| The difference between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic regime of Iran |
Only China carries out more executions a year than Iran, according to human rights groups
The move prompted outrage in predominantly Shia Iran. The ensuing war of words and protests resulted in Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain and Sudan cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran.
The figures mark the highest number of recorded executions in one year since 1995, when 192 people were killed. It also marks a 67% increase on the 90 in 2014.
Saudi Arabia does not release its own figures on the number of people it executes.
Despite its protestations against the execution of Nimr, Iran is the only country in the
Middle East and North Africa that carries out more executions than Saudi Arabia each year – globally, it is second only to China.
Iranian statistics reported 289 executions in 2014 (278 men and 11 women), but Amnesty International says reliable sources put the figure far higher. It claims that at least 743 executions were carried out in 2014.
It is worth noting, however, that Iran’s population of almost 80 million is more than twice that of Saudi Arabia. Of the executions publicly recognised by Iranian authorities, 122 (42%) were people convicted of drug offences.
Source: The Guardian, January 4, 2016
Saudi Arabia’s Barbaric Executions
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Iranians infuriated by the killing of revered Shiite cleric al-Nimr
ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Dec. 2, 2015. |
The execution of the popular Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other prisoners on Saturday was about the worst way Saudi Arabia could have started what promises to be a grim and tumultuous year in the kingdom and across the Middle East. It is hard to imagine that the Sunni rulers of the kingdom were not aware of the sectarian passions the killings would unleash around the region. They may even have counted on the fierce reaction in Iran and elsewhere as a distraction from economic problems at home and to silence dissenters.
That in turn promised to set back international efforts to resolve the wars in Syria and Yemen and to combat the
Islamic State and other Islamist terrorist organizations.
Saudi Arabia’s income has sharply declined as a result of the prolonged drop in
oil prices — caused, in part, by the regime’s insistence on maintaining production levels — and the government has announced cutbacks in the lavish welfare spending that Saudis have long taken for granted. The executions provided both a sectarian crisis to deflect anger over the cutbacks and a graphic warning of what can befall critics.
But the
executions were not out of character for Saudi Arabia. The country has a dismal human rights record with its application of stern Islamic law and its
repression of women and practitioners of religious traditions other than Sunni Islam. The regime has become only more repressive in the years since the Arab Spring. According to
Human Rights Watch, the mass execution this weekend followed a year in which 158 people were executed, the most in recent history, largely based on vague laws and dubious trials. Sheikh Nimr was a vocal critic of the regime and champion of the rights of the Shiite minority in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, but not an advocate of violent action.
Source: The New York Times, The Opinion Pages, Editorial, January 4, 2016
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- Saudi Arabia executes Burmese woman; secret filming reveals medieval, barbaric punishment, January 12, 2015
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