Newsweek: 2019 Bloodiest Year in Saudi Arabia with Political Executions, War on Yemen

 The first half of 2019 has been a bloody one in Saudi Arabia, with more than one prisoner executed by the government each day on average, the Newsweek reported on Monday.

David Brennan, who wrote cthe report has said the number of executions in the first six months of the year is the highest recorded in the past five years, and more than double the 55 from the same period in 2018, according to a new report by the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights.

From January until the end of June, 122 people were executed in the ultra-conservative kingdom, he added. Among them are six minors and 58 foreign nationals, from nations including Pakistan, Yemen and Syria. Three women were among those killed, one each from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Yemen.

Fifty-one of those killed were executed for drug offenses, though ESOHR noted that in many nations the crimes would not have been among the most serious.

The report says among the remainder were political prisoners—including many Shiite citizens, persecuted in the Sunni-dominated nation—charged in relation to anti-government protests. Some of these charges dated back to the Arab Spring, when unrest spread to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012 but was quickly crushed by the government.

Brennan pointed out that on just one day—April 23—37 people were executed. The majority of these had been convicted of offenses linked to Shiite anti-government demonstrations, ESOHR explained. The new focus on political dissenters shows that the country is "experiencing a particularly brutal period of repression," the report said.

The soaring rate of executions in the authoritarian state comes despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's promise—made in April 2018—to reduce the use of the death penalty to as low as possiblek, he added.

Brennan ridiculed the allegations and pledges made by bin Salman after  221 people have been executed. While now hugely influential, he is part of a bigger problem—714 individuals have been executed since King Salman took the throne in January 2015.

Ali Adubisi, the director of ESOHR, said there appears not to be "any signal" that MBS will follow through on his promise. 

Bin Salman came to the fore lauded as a much-needed reformer, vowing to liberalize the nation and diversify its oil dependent economy.

The Vision 2020 initiative would, he told the world, open Saudi Arabia to global commerce, offer new freedoms to its citizens and phase out some of the more archaic elements of Saudi society.

But many of his actions have run contrary to the project. He led Saudi Arabia into a devastating war in Yemen, was linked to the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khasohggi, arrested and extorted billions from allegedly corrupt Saudi business people, and cracked down on human rights, pro-democracy and Shiite activists, the report says.

ESOHR noted its "serious concerns about the extent to which the Saudi government will expand capital punishment this year." If the current execution rate is maintained, there will be 244 executions by the end of 2019.