Amnesty International on Tuesday (24 May) urged Saudi Arabia to prevent the "
imminent execution
" of two men from neighboring Bahrain accused of terrorism-related crimes, noting that the use of the death penalty is on the rise in the conservative kingdom. .
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Saudi Arabia has already executed 120 people since the start of the year, according to an AFP tally.
That total includes 81 killings in a single day in March, all for terrorism-related cases.
It is also almost double the total of 65 executions recorded in 2021 in the kingdom, which was itself more than double the total for 2020, Amnesty said on Tuesday in a report on the use of the death penalty around the world. .
In a separate statement on Tuesday, the NGO highlighted the cases of Jaafar Mohammad Sultan and Sadeq Majeed Thamer, two Bahraini Shiites, whose death sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court in April.
According to Amnesty, the two men “
risk imminent execution
”.
These sentences were handed down in October 2021 after a "
grossly unfair
" trial, on charges including "
smuggling explosive materials into Saudi Arabia and participating in anti-government protests in Bahrain
" .
, Amnesty said.
The Saudi authorities arrested these men in October 2015. They said they "
were tortured and that their alleged confessions were extracted from them under duress
", still according to the same source.
A Saudi government spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni, has sent troops to Bahrain to suppress a mainly Shia protest movement in the Sunni-ruled country that started in 2011, inspired by revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.
The recent upsurge in executions in Saudi Arabia comes as the kingdom, known for its strict interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law), tries to soften its image with a series of judicial reforms that could make its courts more transparent.
