Saudi Arabia has carried out more than a thousand executions since King Salman bin Abdulaziz came to power in 2015, according to a joint report by Reprieve and the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights, published earlier this year.
Riyadh announced on Monday the execution of two Bahrainis convicted of “joining a terrorist cell,” which it said aims to “destabilize the security” of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, bringing to nine the number of executions in the Kingdom on charges related to so-called terrorism since the beginning of this month.
And the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), quoting the Ministry of Interior, reported that “Jaafar Muhammad Sultan and Sadiq Majeed Thamer – Bahrainis – have joined a terrorist cell, headed by a security wanted person in the Kingdom of Bahrain, affiliated with a terrorist entity,” as described in the statement of the Ministry of Interior.
She said that they had received “training in camps affiliated with terrorist organizations aimed at destabilizing the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain, spreading chaos in them, communicating with terrorists inside Saudi Arabia, supporting them to carry out terrorist acts, and smuggling materials and capsules used in bombing to Saudi Arabia.”
And she confirmed that she carried out the death sentence on Monday morning in the Shiite-majority eastern region, which previously witnessed unrest.
The Bahraini authorities did not immediately comment on the executions.
On the other hand, the Shiite “Al-Wefaq” society, one of the two main opposition groups in Bahrain, condemned the execution of the two men who have been arrested in Saudi Arabia since 2015. It said on its Facebook page that “the Saudi regime is committing a crime by executing Bahrainis Sadiq Thamer and Jaafar Sultan.”
Neighboring Bahrain witnessed protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy, but they were quickly suppressed by security forces with Saudi support.
Manama accuses Iran of arming individuals and forming and training groups to carry out attacks in the kingdom with the aim of destabilizing it, which Tehran denies. Executions have been carried out against people on charges related to terrorism.
In March 2022, the human rights organization “Amnesty International” stated that in October 2021 the Saudi authorities issued a discretionary death sentence against Bahrainis on charges of “terrorism”.
She said that they were accused of “smuggling explosives, receiving military training in Iran, and participating in protests in Bahrain,” accusing the authorities of extracting confessions through “torture.”
Last June, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial or arbitrary executions, Maurice Tidbal-Benz, called on the Saudi authorities in a letter to halt “any possible steps towards the execution” of the two men.
The number of terrorism-related executions carried out in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of this month has reached nine, eight of which were carried out in the eastern region. Seven of them hold Saudi nationality.
The Saudi authorities have executed 41 people since the beginning of the year, according to a toll compiled by Agence France-Presse based on official data. In 2022, it executed 147 people, more than double the number of executions in 2021, which was 69.
Recently, state media reports no longer provide details of how the executions were carried out, but the kingdom has frequently carried out executions by beheading.
The conservative kingdom has long come under fire from human rights organizations over its high execution rate.
The Saudi authorities say that the defendants have exhausted all levels of litigation, stressing that “the Kingdom’s government is keen to establish security, achieve justice, and implement God’s rulings against all those who transgress against the safe.”
Saudi Arabia has carried out more than a thousand executions since King Salman bin Abdulaziz came to power in 2015, according to a joint report by Reprieve and the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights, published earlier this year.
