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Fahd bin Abdul Aziz
Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz
Naef Bin Abdul Aziz
Salman Bin Abdul Aziz
Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz
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| In stark contrast to the worldwide trend
toward abolition of the death penalty, in Saudi Arabia its use has become
increasingly frequent. Since 1990 at least 540 people have been executed
in Saudi Arabia, usually by public beheading; at least one hundred people
were reported executed in the first nine months of 1997 alone. Most of
these were foreigners accused of any of a variety of offenses, including
drug-trafficking, murder, armed robbery, and sexual offenses. In at least
some cases there was ample evidence to support victims' claims of
innocence. On Friday December 13, 1996 (3 Sha`ban 1417), `Abd al-Karim
Mara`i al-Naqshabandi, age forty, was executed in Riyadh. A Syrian
national who had worked for Saudi Prince Salman bin Sa`ud bin `Abd
al-`Aziz for over fourteen years, al-Naqshabandi was convicted of
practicing witchcraft (sihr) against his employer, who is the son of the
former king of Saudi Arabia and the nephew of the current king. The
information Human Rights Watch has been able to collect about the al-Naqshabandi
case indicates that gross violations of human rights took place, and that
al-Naqshabandi may have been executed without cause. (Copyrights Human
Rights Watch)
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