Saudi Arabia Executes 81 People Convicted of Crimes in Largest Known Mass Execution in its Modern History

Saudi Arabia is in the news on your Sunday as the Kingdom has executed 81 people committed of crimes in what is to be believed as the largest known execution in the history of the Saudi Arabia.

Among those executed, killings ranged from those belonging to militant groups to those who committed murder.

The number of those executed surpassed the number of those executed in January of 1980 when they mass executed 63 militants convicted of seizing the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979. That was the worst ever militant attack to target the Kingdom and Islam’s holiest site.

It wasn’t clear why the Saudi Kingdom chose Saturday for the executions, though they came as much of the world’s attentions are focused on the war between Ukraine and Russia.

The death penalty in Saudi Arabia slowed down with the Coronavirus pandemic, but beheadings still continued under King Salman and his very assertive son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The state-run Saudi Press Agencey announced that Saturday’s executions included those “convicted of various crimes, including the murdering of innocent men, women, and children.”

The Kingdom said of those executed were members of Al-Qaida, The Islamic State, and backers of Yemen’s Houthi rebels. A Saudi led coalition has been fighting the Iranian backed Houthis since 2015 in neighboring Yemen in an effort to restore internationally recognized government back to power.

Of those executed, they include 73 Saudis, 7 Yemenis, and one Syrian. The report does not say where the executions took place.

“The accused were provided with the right to an attorney and were guaranteed their full rights under Saudi law during the judicial process, which found them guilty of committing multiple heinous crimes that left a large number of civilians and law enforcement officers dead,” the Saudi Press Agency said.

“The kingdom will continue to take a strict and unwavering stance against terrorism and extremist ideologies that threaten the stability of the entire world,” the report added. It did not say how the prisoners were executed, though death-row inmates typically are beheaded in Saudi Arabia.

An announcement by Saudi state television described those executed as having “followed the footsteps of Satan” in carrying out their crimes.

The kingdom’s last mass execution came in January 2016, when the kingdom executed 47 people, including a prominent opposition Shiite cleric who had rallied demonstrations in the kingdom.

In 2019, the kingdom beheaded 37 Saudi citizens, most of them minority Shiites, in a mass execution across the country for alleged terrorism-related crimes.

Thanks to our friends at MSN for contributing to this article.