It has taken only two-and-a-half months for the oil rich ally of the United States to surpass 50% of their execution totals for all of last year. Considering there were 87 government sanctioned beheadings in the Middle Eastern nation in 2014, Saudi Arabia is “well on track” to exceed any previously held records, according to Amnesty International.
While any official reason for the upswing in state killings is unclear, it should be noted that King Salman was crowned as the new king of the Sunni Muslim kingdom on January 23, 2015 following the death of his half brother, King Abdullah.
King Salman’s short reign has already been marked by his willingness to allow the death penalty to be administered.
Saudi Arabia has carried out around 80 executions annually since 2011.
Human rights abuses don’t always come in the form of death.
Last Thursday, Mohammed al-Bajadi, a founding member of one of the few independent human rights groups in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to ten years in prison.
As reported by The Guardian,
Bajadi, in his 30s, faced various accusations including acquiring banned books, organising a protest by the families of prisoners and publishing material that “would prejudice public order”, the group said.
Another activist, Raif Badawi was also recently sentenced to 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam”.
Also in Saudi Arabia, the US Embassy in the capital city of Riyadh was shut down over the weekend due to “heightened security concerns”.
“On Friday, the embassy warned that Western oil workers could be the target of militant attacks,” the BBC reported late last week.
Why does the United States consider Saudi Arabia an ally, even though they are guilty of similar crimes the US points to when seeking military action against other Middle Eastern nations?
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