Saudi Arabia has executed 37 of her citizens found guilty of various terrorism-related charges, the government said on Tuesday, the majority were Shi’a men who were convicted after sham trials that violated international fair trial standards which relied on confessions extracted through torture according to Amnesty International.

They include 11 men who were convicted of spying for Iran and sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial. At least 14 others executed were convicted of violent offences related to their participation in anti-government demonstrations in Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a majority Eastern Province between 2011 and 2012. The 14 men were subjected to prolonged pre-trial detention and told the court that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated during their interrogation in order to have ‘confessions’ extracted from them.

They were accused of adopting extremist ideology, forming terrorist cells, provoking sectarian strife and attacking security targets, according to an Interior Ministry statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency. They were also accused of cooperating with “hostile parties” against the interests of the country.

It was the first mass execution in Saudi Arabia since January 2016, when the death sentence was carried out against 47 people, including firebrand Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr and Sunni militants affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Al-Nimr’s death sparked protests in Iran and an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, prompting the kingdom to suspend ties with the Islamic Republic.

While the government didn’t spell out the method of execution, capital punishment in Saudi Arabia is usually carried out as beheading by sword.

Saudi Arabia has clamped down on a variety of perceived threats over the past few years, ranging all the way from local Islamic State sympathizers to women’s rights activists authorities said had undermined state security.

Several of those executed were on a list of 23 most-wanted men sought in connection to protests, clashes and violence that erupted in the oil-rich Eastern Province during the Arab Spring in 2011. At least one had been arrested for an attack on German diplomats in 2014, while others had been held for attacking security forces.

Also among the 37 executed is Abdulkareem al-Hawaj – a young Shi’a man who was arrested at the age of 16 and convicted of offences related to his involvement in anti-government protests. Under international law, the use of the death penalty against people who were under the age of 18 at the time of the crime is strictly prohibited.

The International watch Dog said Al-Hawaj was convicted of offenses including throwing Molotov cocktails and participating in riots “that resulted in the shooting of an armored vehicle,” as well as using social media to share images of demonstrations.

Amnesty International understands that the families were not informed about the executions in advance and were shocked to learn of the news.

“The use of the death penalty is always appalling but it is even more shocking when it is applied after unfair trials or against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime, in flagrant violation of international law,” said Lynn Maalouf.

All of those executed today were Saudi Arabian nationals. So far this year, at least 104 people have been executed by Saudi Arabia – at least 44 of them are foreign nationals, the majority of whom were convicted of drug-related crimes. In 2018, Saudi Arabia carried out 149 executions during the whole year.

“Instead of stepping up executions at an alarming rate in the name of countering terrorism, Saudi Arabia must halt this bloody execution spree immediately and establish an official moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty completely,” said Lynn Maalouf.

Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher, from the Shi’a minority and who were below the age of 18 at the time of the crime, remain on death row and at imminent risk of execution.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, regardless of who is accused, the crime, their guilt or innocence or the method of execution.