THE GUARDIAN: Poor foreign workers bear the brunt of "the stark horror" of Saudi Arabia's secretive death penalty system, Amnesty International said today, with a Saudi citizen up to eight times more likely to escape execution through a "blood money" payment than a foreigner.
Foreign nationals, mostly Asians and Africans, who face capital trials in the conservative kingdom are frequently unable to understand court proceedings if they are not Arabic speakers, are often not represented by a lawyer and are routinely held for long periods in harsh conditions and coerced into false confessions.
"Poor foreign workers are literally paying with their lives when accused of capital crimes in Saudi Arabia," said Amnesty International's UK Director Kate Allen. "Frequently bamboozled by secretive and unfair trials conducted in a language they don't even understand, they go to their deaths with little assistance from their home countries and little mercy from a grossly unfair Saudi justice system."
The Saudi authorities do not provide statistics on the use of the death penalty but Amnesty recorded at least 1,695 executions between 1985 and May 2008. Of these, 830 were foreign nationals and 809 Saudis (with the nationality of 56 unknown). Foreigners make up about a quarter of the country's population of 28 million.
Executions are currently carried out at an average of more than two per week, most by beheading and many in public. Two beheadings last Sunday brought to 74 the number carried out this year. Last year a record 153 people were executed, compared with 37 in 2006. The previous record, of 113, was in 2000.
Saudi Arabia is one of the few states in the world with a high rate of executions for women. It is also one of the few to execute people for crimes they committed when they were still under the age of 18. Amnesty Condemns ‘Horror’ of Saudi Executions >>> Ian Black, Middle East Editor | October 14, 2008
GMA News.TV: Saudi Arabia: Filipino and Saudi Man Executed
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi authorities have announced the beheading of a Saudi and a Filipino man.
The Interior Ministry says Finansho Ladion, from the Philippines, was convicted of murdering a Saudi man in the holy city of Mecca by suffocating the man and piercing his neck with a pen.
Saudi national Fahd al-Shadoukhey was convicted of theft and rape while under the influence of alcohol. >>> AP | October 14, 2008
More on the executed Filipino >>> GMANews.TV | October 14, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
