By Orowo Victoria Ojieh
Saudi Arabia has carried out the biggest mass execution in its history. A total of 81 people were executed in Saudi Arabia for terrorism-related offenses on Saturday.
The 81 people consist of 73 Saudis, seven Yemenis, and one Syrian with some being part of Al Qaeda, the Islamic State group and backers of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
They had been plotting attacks on vital economic sites, or had targeted or had killed members of the security forces, or had smuggled weapons into the country, The Trumpet gathered.
All had been “found guilty of committing multiple atrocious crimes”, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) official reported, saying they included convicts linked to the Islamic State group, or to Al-Qaeda, Yemen’s Huthi rebel forces or “other terrorist organisations”.
According to SPA, their trials were overseen by 13 judges and a threestage judicial process sentenced the 81 men to the death penalty.
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“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.
Saturday’s execution marks the kingdom’s highest number of recorded executions in one day, more than the total of 69 executions in all of 2021