Press Release: 81 people were executed within 24 hours

Press Release:

Saturday 12 March 2022

London. United Kingdom

Sanad Human Rights Organisation

Sanad Human Rights Organisation has followed with concern the statement issued by the Saudi Ministry of Interior on Saturday, March 12, 2022, which declared that 81 people were executed within 24 hours.

While we are deeply shocked at the number of people sentenced to death in one day, which comes in the context of intimidating people, we strongly believe that these executions were carried out without due process of law that demands procedural integrity and transparency. 

Therefore, we, at Sanad, call on the Saudi authorities to practice clarity and transparency in such penal procedures, starting with detention causes, integrity of the investigation procedures, granting the accused their full rights of fair trial, legal representation, clarity of charges, open-to-public trials, and judicial independence.

Sanad also expresses deep concern about the possibility that the Saudi regime is using such death penalties as intimidation and political blackmailing tools to repress and silence its political dissidents and rights activists

We categorically reject all threats of capital punishment that Saudi authorities have issued against a number of intellectuals, activists and prisoners of conscience who have not committed any crime, shed any blood, or done anything other than expressing their thoughts and voicing their opinions against the oppressive Saudi regime.

We also call on the Saudi regime to allow independent international bodies to examine the quality and integrity of the practiced penal procedures and to investigate the legal violations committed by the Saudi regime in its penal system.