Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups. It was the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history. The number of executed surpassed even the toll of a January 1980 mass execution for the 63 militants convicted of seizing Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Saudi Arabia’
Saudi Arabia stops death penalty for people who committed crimes as minors
Thursday, April 30th, 2020Saudi Arabia is abolishing the death penalty for people who committed crimes as minors, the state-backed Human Rights Commission (HRC) said in a statement Sunday. The decision was part of a royal decree, the statement said, and came two days after an announcement that public floggings would be banned. Anyone who received a death sentence Read more
Massive increase in UK arms sales to Saudis
Thursday, November 21st, 2019Statistics show that the UK Government licensed £5,335,852,492 worth of arms to the Saudi Arabian regime in the first four years of its ongoing bombardment of Yemen (26 March 2015 – 25 March 2019). This is an increase of almost 50% on the value of arms licensed in the four years preceding the war, which Read more
Saudi teenager arrested at 13 spared from execution
Thursday, June 20th, 2019Murtaja Qureiris, the 18-year-old who had been facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, has been spared execution and sentenced to 12 years in prison, according to a source familiar with the matter. The source told CNN that Qureiris, who was arrested at the age of 13 by Saudi authorities, could be released by 2022. Read more
Five men beheaded for being gay
Thursday, May 2nd, 2019Five men beheaded by Saudi Arabia were gay, according to a confession heard by the Sharia law court. The country sparked outrage several days ago for the mass execution of 37 men, who were mainly minority Shia Muslims. Human rights groups have complained that confessions of terrorism and spying for Iran were obtained through torture. Read more
Death penalty for three top Muslim clerics
Thursday, September 20th, 2018The death penalty is likely for three top Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia. Rights activist claim the clerics are facing charges of promoting an extremist agenda. The clerics’ prosecution and possible execution is unusual in Saudi Arabia where religious leaders are usually seen as untouchable. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been taking strong action Read more
Christian communities in Saudi Arabia possible
Monday, April 23rd, 2018
New Christian communities are on the cards in Saudi Arabia. At present, all other religions besides Wahhabite Islam are prohibited. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has recently begun a series of social reforms. They have raised the hopes of Christian communities in the Middle East. The reforms have resulted in Saudi leaders meeting representatives Read more
Syrian priest who escaped ISIS says “Boycott Saudi Arabia”
Friday, October 21st, 2016A Syrian priest who was kidnapped by ISIS and escaped five months later says we should boycott Saudi Arabia. The priest, Father Jacques Mourad, had been the prior of a pilgrimage centre. It was destroyed when ISIS captured the nearby city of Al Quaryatayn last August. The city was liberated in April this year. In Read more
Yemen: ignoring the suffering of a nation
Friday, November 13th, 2015
While much needed attention is being given to refugees flowing from war-torn Syria, one desperately suffering Middle East nation is barely a blip on the developed world’s radar screen. And to be honest, Yemen wasn’t on my radar screen either, until I met Barbara Deller. For 12 years Deller worked as a hospital nurse-midwife in Read more
Pilgrimage is at the heart of major religions
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015
Australian nurse Nelley Youssef is immersed in a sea of millions of white-robed pilgrims doing the tawaf of the Kaaba, the black cuboid structure at the heart of Masjid Al-Haram mosque in Mecca, Saudia Arabia. She takes tiny, shuffling steps as she completes seven anti-clockwise laps that form one of many rituals she completes as Read more