Saudi officials could not immediately be contacted for comment. (Representative)
Riyadh:
Saudi Arabia on Monday executed a Yemeni man accused of plotting a suicide attack in the kingdom and being linked to an ISIS jihadist group, the interior ministry said.
The wealthy Gulf country, with one of the world’s highest execution rates, has been the target of a series of deadly ISIS shootings and bombings since late 2014.
“A Yemeni citizen, Mohamed al-Saddam, sought to target civilian gatherings in a public facility under the instructions of the Daesh terrorist organization,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement, referring to ISIS. said.
“The death sentence was pronounced in the city of Riyadh on Monday.”
It said the man had “pledged allegiance to ISIS” and was planning a “suicide attack using explosive belts”, without elaborating on the matter or when Yemeni was arrested.
Saudi officials could not immediately be contacted for comment.
Due to a moratorium on the executions of those sentenced to death for drug trafficking, the number of executions had dropped significantly in 2020.
But Amnesty International said in August that at least 40 people were executed in Saudi Arabia between January and July this year, which is more than the whole of 2020.
A total of about 70 people have been sentenced to death in the state this year, according to an AFP tally based on official statements.
Saudi Arabia killed 184 people in 2019, according to Amnesty, which it has said was the highest number recorded in a year in the country.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s state-run Human Rights Commission said it had documented 27 executions in 2020.
Last year, the HRC also announced that Saudi Arabia was ending court-ordered whippings, in a reform move welcomed by rights campaigners.
In November, Saudi Arabia released a man who had been arrested as a minor in 2012 after serving nine years in prison for participating in anti-government protests.
Activists, however, doubt the reforms will extend to the release of political prisoners, a pause on widespread crackdowns on dissent, or an end to executions.
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