The kingdom has executed 303 people since the start of the year, according to an AFP count. A record for Riyadh, where Emmanuel Macron is currently on a state visit.
The NGO Amnesty International, which has been recording executions around the world since 1990, has not yet published its 2024 report. But one thing is already certain: Saudi Arabia, the rich Gulf monarchy will once again appear on the podium of the countries having used the death penalty the most this year. The ranking remains dominated by China, where more than half of the world's executions took place, according to estimates, or thousands of people – the figure is classified as a state secret. Next comes Iran, which last year executed at least 853 people, according to the human rights organization.
According to a count updated Tuesday by AFP following announcements from the Saudi authorities, the number of executions in the kingdom has exceeded the 300 mark, or almost one per day on average. A very clear increase compared to the 172 last year and the absolute record of 196 executions, which dated from 2022. Taha al-Hajji, legal director of the NGO the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, described the executions as from 2024 from“incomprehensible and inexplicable”alarmed by the «vitesse» to which they were carried out.
“Blatant contempt”
“This grim record shows the Saudi authorities’ blatant disregard for the right to life and contradicts their own promises to limit the use of the death penalty”said Lina al-Hathloul, communications manager for the human rights organization ALQST. Despite pressure exerted for years by NGOs, the world's leading oil exporter does not intend to change its policy in this area, convinced that capital punishment is “necessary for the maintenance of public order”.
In 2022, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto ruler, told the magazine The Atlantic that the kingdom had limited the death penalty to major crimes. A broken commitment, deplore human rights defenders. “The figures do not lie and completely contradict these statements”Taha al-Hajji told AFP. Since King Salman came to power in 2015, Saudi Arabia has carried out more than 1,000 executions, a record that has been all the more criticized given that the government in power had declared that it wanted to liberalize Saudi society and modernize the country's judicial system. kingdom.
Since the start of the year, 45 people have been executed for “cases linked to terrorism” and at least 103 for drug trafficking, more than a third of the total. Faced with the high proportion of death sentences linked to drug trafficking, the United Nations has urged Riyadh to put an end to executions for this reason, believing that the harsh sentences in this area contradict international standards. Another record broken this year by Saudi Arabia: among the 303 people executed since January are 113 foreigners, most of them convicted of drug trafficking.
At the center of the diplomatic game
A time outcast after the barbaric assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, Mohammed bin Salman has since returned to the center of the diplomatic game. With strong ties to Moscow and Beijing, reconciled with Iran and on the verge of finding a strong ally in the person of Donald Trump in Washington, MBS is establishing itself as a key player on the international scene.
Emmanuel Macron, one of the first to visit him when he was still ostracized, also hopes to strengthen his relationship with him. The French president began a three-day state visit to the Saudi kingdom on Monday. On Tuesday, several contracts and agreements were announced, particularly in the renewable energy sector, before a one-on-one dinner between the two leaders. Strong in “the excellence of his relationship” with Riyadh, France ensures that it regularly addresses the issue of human rights with its Saudi interlocutors. Obviously without much result.
