Al Jazeera reports there has been a surge in beheadings in Saudi Arabia in August.
At least 19 people have been beheaded in Saudi Arabia this month for offences including drug smuggling and sorcery, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The dead include four Saudi men executed in Najran province on Monday for smuggling hashish, and two foreigners – a Syrian and a Pakistani, accused of the same crime.
Authorities beheaded Saudi national, Mohammed bin Bakr al-Alawi, on August 5 for allegedly practicing sorcery, the Saudi Gazette reported.
That’s a lot of beheading, for one trivial crime and one nothing. Saudi Arabia is even worse than Texas.
On Wednesday, Saudi authorities executed a Pakistani national for the murder of an Afghan man, the AFP news agency reported.
At least 34 people have been put to death in the country in 2014, including the 19 people killed in August.
Amnesty International denounced what it called a “disturbing surge” and called on the Saudi government to immediately halt all executions.
“Any execution is appalling, but executions for crimes such as drug smuggling or sorcery that result in no loss of life are particularly egregious,” said HRW’s Sarah Leah Watson.
And yet Saudi Arabia is an “ally” of both the US and the UK. I hate realpolitik.