Saudi Arabia put 81 people to death on Saturday, marking the country’s largest number of single-day executions in decades, new reports say.
Some of those executed were convicted of aiding terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, the Islamic State, or Yemen’s Houthi rebels and killing women and children, the nation claimed.
“The accused were provided with the right to an attorney and were guaranteed their full rights under Saudi law during the judicial process, which found them guilty of committing multiple heinous crimes that left a large number of civilians and law enforcement officers dead,” the Saudi Press Agency said, according to the Associated Press.
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Among the executed were seven Yemenis and one Syrian national convicted on charges including “allegiance to foreign terrorist organizations” and holding “deviant beliefs,” as well as 37 Saudi nationals convicted of hatching an assassination scheme, al Jazeera reported. Saturday’s execution surpassed the total 67 executions reported in 2021 and 27 reported in 2020, according to the outlet. The method used in the most recent execution is unclear.
Saturday’s execution is reportedly the kingdom’s largest single-day mass execution in modern history. Another mass execution took place in 1980, when 63 convicts were put to death for their involvement in the 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The mass executions also dwarfed a 2016 incident in which the government executed 47 people on terrorism charges.
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The kingdom is one of the most prolific users of capital punishment in the world. In its capital sits Deera Square, also known as Chop Chop Square, where public executions have taken place. In 2019, the country beheaded 37 citizens convicted on terrorism charges. Concerns escalated in 2018 following the death of Jamal Khashoggi — a killing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman vehemently denies ordering.
Saudi Arabia has received international criticism for violating human rights and performing brutal punishments, including cutting off the hands of thieves as punishment for stealing. But reports of such penalties have become less frequent in recent years as the country has enacted social reforms under the crown prince.
