Saudi Arabia says it executed U.S. national convicted of killing and torturing his father

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday executed a U.S. nationwide convicted of torturing and killing his father, state media reported, bringing to a minimum of 19 the variety of foreigners put to loss of life this yr.

The loss of life sentence for Bishoy Sharif Naji Naseef was carried out within the Riyadh area, the official Saudi Press Company mentioned.

The Gulf Kingdom is ceaselessly criticized for its prolific use of capital punishment, which human rights teams say undermines its bid to melt its picture by a sweeping “Imaginative and prescient 2030” social and financial reform agenda.

A courtroom discovered that Naseef, whose age was not given, beat and strangled his Egyptian father to loss of life and mutilated him after he died, and that he additionally used medicine and tried to kill one other individual, SPA mentioned.

The mode of execution was not specified, however Saudi Arabia has up to now typically used beheading when implementing the loss of life penalty.

A State Division spokesperson advised CBS Information on Wednesday that the U.S. “are conscious of experiences of the execution of a U.S. citizen in Saudi Arabia.”

The spokesperson added that “We’re monitoring the state of affairs and haven’t any additional remark at the moment.”

Saudi Arabia was the world’s third most prolific executioner final yr, Amnesty Worldwide has mentioned.

Greater than 1,000 loss of life sentences have been carried out since King Salman assumed energy in 2015, in accordance with a report revealed earlier this yr by the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights and the Britain-based group Reprieve.

A complete of 91 individuals — 19 of them foreigners — have been executed to date this yr, in accordance with an AFP tally based mostly on state media experiences.

In addition to the U.S. nationwide, these put to loss of life got here from international locations together with Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Jordan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Yemen.

Final yr’s introduced determine of 147 executions was greater than double the 2021 determine of 69.

Executions for drug crimes resumed in 2022, ending a moratorium that lasted for nearly three years.

The 2022 complete included 81 individuals put to loss of life on a single day for offenses associated to “terrorism,” an episode that sparked a world outcry.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, King Salman’s son and the de facto ruler, has mentioned on a number of events that the dominion was lowering executions.

In a transcript of an interview with The Atlantic journal revealed by state media in March 2022, Prince Mohammed mentioned the dominion had “removed” the loss of life penalty aside from instances of homicide or when somebody “threatens the lives of many individuals.”