A human rights organization said that the number of people executed by Saudi Arabia in the first six months of 2022 is nearly double the number of those executed in 2021, despite the “promises” of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to reduce the death penalty.
The European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) said that the kingdom executed 120 people in the first six months of this year.
After a significant decline in 2020, 65 people were executed in 2021, and in only the first six months of this year, the number nearly doubled, by June, the numbers for this year exceeded those for 2020 and 2021 combined, according to a statement issued by the organization obtained Washington Post on a copy of it.
The statement stated that “if Saudi Arabia continues to execute people at the same rate during the second half of 2022, Saudi Arabia will exceed the record of 186 executions in 2019”.
The Saudi Crown Prince had indicated in an interview with American “Time” magazine In 2018, Saudi Arabia has clear laws.
“For example, when someone kills another person, they should be executed in our law. But there are few aspects in which the death sentence can be changed to life imprisonment,” he explained.
The organization said that the decline in executions in 2020 was partly due to the shutdowns due to the Covid pandemic from February to April of that year, before the rate increased as pandemic precautions were eased in 2021.
The largest execution of 2022 was in March, when the authorities executed 81 people.
According to the organization’s data, 72 executions this year were for “discretionary crimes”, which are crimes not specified in Islamic law.