Saudi Arabia Executed 48 People Since Start of 2018

A man about to be executed in Saudi Arabia (AFP/FILE)

By Ty Joplin

A recently released report by the Human Rights Watch has revealed that 48 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia since the start of 2018. 

In addition, "many more people convicted of drug crimes remain on death row following convictions by Saudi Arabia’s notoriously unfair criminal justice system," the report says. 

“It’s bad enough that Saudi Arabia executes so many people, but many of them have not committed a violent crime,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Any plan to limit drug executions needs to include improvements to a justice system that doesn’t provide for fair trials.”

Saudi's de facto leader, Mohammad bin Salman, has toured the world and campaigned vigorously to renew the public image of his country  to be more modern and forward-thinking. As such, he has granted women more rights and curtailed the power of religious police inside his country.

At the same time, he led Saudi into a war in Yemen, which has created one of the humanitarian crises happening in the world today, and purged potential dissidents from positions of power, going so far as torturing and killing members of Saudi's elite.