Saudi Arabia is on track to break its own grim record for number of executions carried out in one year, with a significant rise in executions for drugs, reports the Associated Press.
More than half of those executed this year were foreign nationals: mainly Egyptians, Somalis, Pakistanis and Ethiopians.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman could do a lot more to stop the surge in executions if he wanted to, Reprieve’s head of MENA Jeed Basyouni told Associated Press:
“He could do mass pardons. He could insist on rewriting laws so that they are in line with international law.”
“The billions spent on so-called reforms, designed to promote a more tolerant and inclusive kingdom under the crown prince’s rule, mask an authoritarian state where daily executions for drug crimes are now the norm.”