The Saudi Arabian government said it has executed 37 men for terrorism crimes and one of them was crucified.
The men were accused of “cooperating with hostile parties in a way that damaged the high interests of the homeland,” Saudi officials said in a statement Tuesday, and were executed on the basis of “their adoption of extremist, terrorist ideology and forming terrorist cells to corrupt and disturb security, spread chaos and cause sectarian discord.”
All 37 men, who were identified by the Saudi interior ministry, were beheaded in public squares across the country, including the man who was crucified. According to Saudi Arabian protocols, the body of the crucified individual is left on public display after the person has been killed.
The move by Saudi Arabia comes one day after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for bombing a building near the Saudi capital of Riyadh, leaving the four suicide bombers dead and no civilian causalities. The executions also come after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the church bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 300 people injured hundreds more.
“The death penalty was implemented on a number of criminals for adopting extremist terrorist ideologies and forming terrorist cells to corrupt and disrupt security as well as spreading chaos and provoking sectarian strife,” the Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom’s official news outlet, said in a tweet.
The executions brings Saudi Arabia’s total to 103 public beheadings this year, according to the Human Rights Watch. Saudi officials executed 148 people in 2018.
The Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington was not available for immediate comment to the Washington Examiner.
