Saudi Arabia - End Secrecy, End Suffering

"I'm always scared, especially on Fridays because that's the day when they execute those who are on death row." - A letter from Sarah Jane Dematera, a migrant worker from the Philippines facing execution in Saudi Arabia after a secretive and unfair trial

The Death Penalty

1. A system of injustice 2. No dissent allowed 3. Torture and ill-treatment 4. The death penalty 5. Women's rights 6. Migrant workers 7. Arming the torturers

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of executions in the world in both absolute numbers and per capita. The death penalty applies to a wide range of non-violent activities such as apostasy and "witchcraft", "sexual offences", acts deemed to amount to "corruption on earth", and crimes such as drug dealing.

Amnesty International has recorded 1,409 executions in Saudi Arabia between 1980 and November 2002, but the real figure may be much higher. More than half of those executed in the last decade were from the minority community of foreign workers.

Often, the first warning prisoners have of their imminent execution is when they are taken out of their cell in handcuffs on a Friday, the day executions are normally carried out. They are taken to a public square, blindfolded and forced to kneel. The executioner raises a sword, then brings the blade down across the prisoner's neck. Sometimes more than one stroke is needed to sever the head. A doctor certifies that the prisoner is dead, then the body and head are removed and buried.

Amnesty International does not know whether condemned prisoners are given tranquillizers. It does not know whether they are allowed to see a representative of their religious faith, or whether an appropriate religious ceremony is conducted before, during or after death. What it does know is that foreign nationals are rarely if ever allowed to see their loved ones before they are executed and are never given advance warning of their execution.

For those awaiting execution, the psychological torment is extreme. Sa'ad al-Din 'Izz al-Din Muhammad, a Sudanese national, was executed in 1996 for a murder he denied having committed. A cellmate described his anguish:

"He is in a frenzy every Thursday afternoon, Friday morning in anticipation of execution... All his family have been told that he is already executed. But he is still inside."

A woman currently awaiting execution wrote to a former cellmate:

"I cannot stop asking you to help me because here they do not give us the date of execution. Early in the morning they come and take you to a big square and cut your head off. Afterwards they inform your family and your embassy. This is why I am scared."

Bucking world trends

Contrary to UN calls for progressive reduction in the number of capital crimes, Saudi Arabia has continued to expand the scope of the death penalty.

International human rights standards encourage abolition of the death penalty and set stringent criteria for its imposition and use, restricting the offences punishable by death to the most serious crimes. In Saudi Arabia, people are being executed for "crimes" such as "black magic", possession of "soft" drugs and "sexual offences" after blatantly unfair trials.

No excuse for executions

Amnesty International totally and unconditionally opposes the death penalty everywhere on the grounds that it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the right to life. Its opposition to all executions is also based on the fact that such irreversible punishment is inflicted despite the risks of human fallibility. The risks inherent in capital cases are compounded in Saudi Arabia by the structural defects of the criminal justice system.

Saudi Arabian officials claim that the use of the death penalty has been a unique deterrent to crime in their country, particularly with regard to drug offences. However, Amnesty International's statistics on executions undermine this claim as the trend is towards more executions in Saudi Arabia.

For more information:

• Defying World Trends - Saudi Arabia's extensive use of capital punishment
  (November 1, 2001)
• Saudi Arabia Remains a Fertile Ground for Torture with Impunity
  (May 1, 2002)