Amnesty report finds Saudi Arabia executed 175 in past year

August 25, 2015 09:22

Saudi Arabia has executed at least 175 people over the past 12 months, on average one person every two days, according to a report released today by Amnesty International.

The 43-page report titled "Killing In the Name of Justice: The Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia" said that between January 1985 and June 2015, at least 2,208 people were executed in the kingdom.

An Associated Press tally based on official announcements shows that Saudi Arabia executed 109 people since January, compared to 83 in all of 2014.

The kingdom follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law and applies the death penalty to a number of crimes including murder, rape and drug smuggling. Though not as common, Saudi Courts allow for people to be executed for adultery, apostasy

and witchcraft.

People can also be executed for crimes committed when they were below 18 years of age.

"Saudi Arabia's faulty justice system facilitates judicial executions on a mass scale," Said Boumedouha, acting director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program, said in a statement.

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