Saudi Arabia has put six Iranians to loss of life for drug trafficking, the inside ministry mentioned Wednesday, after a yr through which it carried out a report variety of executions, in keeping with an AFP tally of official reviews.
The six have been executed in Dammam, on the Gulf coast, for having “clandestinely launched cannabis” into the dominion, the ministry mentioned in a press release carried by the official SPA information company with out specifying when.
Iran summoned the Saudi ambassador to listen to a “robust protest” towards the “unacceptable” violation of “the principles and norms of worldwide regulation”, the overseas ministry in Tehran mentioned.
Saudi Arabia carried out not less than 338 executions in 2024, sharply up on the 170 recorded in 2023 and the very best quantity in a long time, the AFP tally confirmed.
Human rights group Amnesty Worldwide, which has been documenting executions within the kingdom because the Nineteen Nineties, has mentioned the earlier highs have been 196 in 2022 and 192 in 1995.
Convicted drug traffickers made up not less than 117 of these put to loss of life final yr, the AFP tally confirmed.
There was a flurry of executions of convicted drug traffickers because the kingdom ended a moratorium on using the loss of life penalty for drug offences two years in the past.
In 2023, the authorities launched a extremely publicised anti-drug marketing campaign involving a collection of raids and arrests.
Saudi Arabia has turn into a serious marketplace for the addictive psychostimulant captagon, which was produced in large portions in Syria in the course of the civil warfare which culminated within the overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad final month.
In September, greater than 30 Arab and worldwide human rights teams denounced the “sharp improve” in executions of individuals convicted on drug costs.
– ‘Sharp improve’ –
Foreigners made up 129 of the 338 folks executed in 2024, one other report.
They included 25 Yemenis, 24 Pakistanis, 17 Egyptians, 16 Syrians, 14 Nigerians, 13 Jordanians and 7 Ethiopians.
In March 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 81 folks in a single day for “terrorist crimes”, sparking worldwide outrage.
Solely China and Iran executed extra folks than Saudi Arabia in 2023, in keeping with Amnesty, which has but to publish its 2024 figures.
The Saudi authorities say the loss of life penalty is important to keep up public order and is simply used in any case avenues for attraction have been exhausted.
The dominion severed relations with Iran in 2016 after its diplomatic missions in Tehran and the second metropolis Mashhad have been attacked by protesters angered by the execution of Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Diplomatic ties have been restored in March 2023, after a rapprochement brokered by China.