Saudi Arabia executes man during Ramadan; ‘rare’ decries rights group

Saudi Arabia Execution: Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest rates of executions. With the latest case, the number of executions in 2023 rose to 17.

Saudi Arabia executed a man during the holy month of Ramadan, Guardian reported citing a rights group which said that the execution was rare. The execution took place on 28 March – five days into Ramadan- the report claimed. The man, a Saudi national who had been convicted of murder, was put to death in the Medina region. The man had stabbed the victim and set him on fire, the report added.

Saudi Arabia Execution: The man, a Saudi national who had been convicted of murder, was put to death in the Medina region. (AFP)

“Saudi Arabia executed a citizen during Ramadan,” European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) said in a statement, citing Saudi interior ministry capital punishment data. “No sentence has been implemented during the holy month” since 2009 in Saudi Arabia, , the group said.

Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest rates of executions and with the latest case, the number of executions in 2023 rose to 17, the group said. In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 147 people in- over double the 2021 figure of 69, news agency AFP earlier reported.

Since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman assumed power as the country's de facto ruler in 2015, more than 1,000 death sentences have been carried out, according to a report published by Reprieve and ESOHR.

Although in March 2022, the Crown Prince had said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine that Saudi Arabia “got rid of” the death penalty. It only applied to cases of murder or when someone “threatens the lives of many people”, he had said.