Illustrative Image
Written by Dr. Binoy Kampmark
Great reformers are not normally found in theocratic monarchies. Despite assertions to the contrary, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains archaic in the way it deals with its opponents. In its penal system, executions remain standard fare. With liberal democratic countries fixated with the Ukraine conflict and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, it was prudent for Saudi authorities to capitalise.
On March 12, the Saudi Ministry of the Interior announced the execution of 81 Saudi and non-Saudi nationals, bringing the total of those put to death by Riyadh in 2022 to 92. The last grand bout of killing was in 2019, when 37 people, including 33 Shi’a men, were put to death after being convicted by customarily dubious trials.
Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, claimed that this orgy of state killing was “all the more chilling in light of Saudi Arabia’s deeply flawed justice system, which metes out death sentences following trials that are grossly and blatantly unfair, including basing verdicts on ‘confessions’ extracted under torture or other ill-treatment.”
Another sordid feature of the system described by Maalouf is the tendency of authorities to underreport the number of trials that result in death sentences being meted out. Death row, in other words, is a burgeoning feature of the Kingdom’s repertoire.
The executed victims were convicted of a whole miscellany of charges. According to Human Rights Watch, 41 of the men, as has become a standard practice, were of the Shi’a group. The crimes ranged from murder, links to foreign terrorist groups and the vaguely worded offence of “monitoring and targeting officials and expatriates”. Other offences included planting landmines, the attempted killing of police officers, the targeting of “vital economic sites” and weapons smuggling “to destabilize security, sow discord and unrest, and cause riots and chaos”.
Mohammad al-Shakhouri, sentenced to death on February 21 last year, was accused of violent acts while participating in anti-government protests. Through the course of detention and interrogation, he lacked legal representation. His family were not permitted to see him till eight months after his arrest.
The judge of the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) overseeing his trial took only qualified interest in the evidence submitted by the accused that he had been tortured. He had also lost most of his teeth due to the handiwork of security officers. Al-Shakouri’s withdrawal of the worthless confession extracted under such pressure meant that he was given a discretionary death sentence.
In addition to al-Shakouri, Human Rights Watch also noted that in four other cases – Aqeel al-Faraj, Morada al-Musa, Yasin al-Brahim and Asad al-Shibr – due process violations were rife. All spoke of torture and ill-treatment under interrogations; all claimed that their confessions had been extracted under duress.
These state killing sprees are not out of the ordinary in Saudi Arabia. On January 2, 2016, 47 people were executed, the largest since 1980. A prominent figure in the death list was Shi’a cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a critic of the House of Saud. He died along with other members of the Shiite community and captives accused of terrorist related charges after, in the words of the Interior Ministry, much “reason, moderation and dialogue”.
The governing formula for Saudi Arabia’s rulers has been to maintain an iron hand over protest and dissent while fashioning Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a visionary reformer. In 2020, the same petulant figure behind the brutal murder of the journalist and Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi, gave signals that a generous resort to the death penalty would be stopped. Islamic scripture would guide the future use of capital punishment.
This was hardly reassuring. The legal reforms announced on February 8, 2021, which include the first written penal code for discretionary crimes – those under Islamic law not defined in writing and not carrying pre-determined penalties – is being undertaken without civil society involvement. This promises to be a very top-down affair.
The calendar events of state inflicted death may well cause outrage, but governments and companies continue to deal with the Kingdom with business-minded confidence. Unlike the treatment now handed out to Russia, there has never been a mass cancellation of its officials from public appearances for its butcheries, be they legally sanctioned at home, or in such theatres in Yemen. Anger and disapproval, if expressed, are only done so in moderation. Debates about the death penalty remain confined to such theatres as the UN General Assembly.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with typically bad timing, also showed why Riyadh has nothing to be worried about when it comes to its treatment of dissidents and convicts. The UK continues to find the Saudis appreciative of made-in-Britain weapons, which are used readily in the war against the Houthis in Yemen.
The priority now is less reforming barbaric legal measures than finding alternative energy suppliers. Johnson hopes to wean Britain and Western countries off their “addiction” to Russia’s hydrocarbons. “We need to talk to other producers around the world about how we can move away from that dependency.”
This entailed a visit to the Kingdom, which Johnson gave no indication of calling off. Mark Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute, is very much in support of this morally bankrupt calculus. “The realpolitik of this situation is that to free ourselves from our dependence on Russian fossil fuels, we will have to turn a blind eye to other evils in other regimes.”
The trip proved fruitless. The Prime Minister failed to secure an agreement to increase oil production, a point brushed aside in Downing Street by a spokesman’s platitudes. “Both the Crown Prince of the UAE and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia agreed to work closely with us to maintain stability in the energy market and continue the transition to renewable and clean technology.”
So cocky has Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince become, he even refused to take the call of US President Joe Biden on opening negotiations on the rising oil prices. And he can point out that allied countries such as the United States still maintain capital punishment in their chest of judicial weapons against the errant and deviant. Things have never looked better for the murderous schemer.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com
Let’s get rid of all black blood followers, let’s push renewables and let them go down in poverty. No matter which oil demons are offering the first shot for free.
Mohammed bin Schnitzeln is only one of the worshippers of money and oil.
“continue the transition to renewable and clean technology.”
The green energy scam is another way for them to make lots of money, I doubt they will decrease oil extraction.
Cars and buses already do reduce demand. Oil prices quickly went down, as OPEC countries fear that high oil prices will speed up the transition.
Trucks are next, but currently demand for any EV is through the roof. EVs are coming with unbelievable price tags at the moment, as the companies need every penny for the transition.
So what’s the argument here? Saudi Arabia is worse than Russia when it comes to values in relation to the liberal democracies of the West? So the West would not do business with Russia but will happily trade with Saudi Arabia and not sanction their human rights abuses. Let’s see why this is happening from a psychological perspective. First of all Saudi Arabia does not own nuclear weapons and is not pursuing weapons of mass destruction. They literally pose no threat to the west. There is no country in Europe they would be able to attack. Putin has repeatedly threatened the world with nuclear annihilation. He was brazen enough to use nuclear and chemical agents on the territory of a Nato country order to settle scores and eliminate his former friends and associates. Also the West knows that Saudi Arabia cannot reform. They are too deep into strict conservative Islam in order to change. It is an impossible proposition. So take it or leave it. Russia has on the other hand an accelerated rate of psychological change towards modern liberal values. The reason why Russia is still stuck in a conservative past it’s because of its demographic pyramid. It’s aged population. Putin is a representative of the aged nostalgic population. Russia is not refreshing it’s generations fast enough. It is an aging, dying nation. The West is compensating it’s demographic decline by immigration. Russia is incapable to do so. Then it goes on annexation wars because it’s population is getting weaker and older. They are falling behind. 45 millon people added to Russia by the annexation of Ukraine is an appealing proposition to Russia. Most of them Russian speakers. Almost all slavs. But Ukrainians don’t want that. They want to Forge their own separate future from Russia. The Russian shark wanted to swallow the Ukrainian fish. But they found a crocodile instead. And is biting back.
Lol, more wishful propaganda, keep telling that to yourself, western leaders do, they think that they devines lmao, ukraine is winning a twitter war , Russia the real one, considering how Russia restrains itself unlike west that bombs a country for several months before going in, russians are doing an exellent job by saving people, west will stuck with load of ukranian refugees, spent billions on ukraine and will never get it back, lol, money laundering through ukraine is over for biden(burisma) and other western elite , lmao , looks like you have the short end of the stick, when they histeria dies down you will finally understand how bad you have demolished the western financial system, you have no clue, lol and when the inflation hits, those ukkie refugees will become the scapegoats for the locals, and not to mention all of the weapons teh west has sent into ukraine, many will end up in criminal hands in whole europe, looks like europe into some interessting times :)
The Western financial system is fine. Hoping for it’s collapse is just wishful thinking. The West has the strongest central banks on the planet like the ECB, the Fed and the bank of England among others. They have some highly capitalized economies and the most important international transaction currencies. While the rubble, well nobody wants to touch it, not even the russians. You might as well drop it already as is useless. And Europe will make good use of Ukrainian refugees. The European economies are doing well and creating plenty of jobs. They can easily absorb five – ten million young intelligent and educated Ukrainians who are ready to contribute. You see this is the difference between the West and Russia. The West values people, it values life. Russia is unable to do that.
Western financial system is toast. Everyone is dumping the dollar nowdays. They are nothing but pirates stealing money or worse printing it from thin sir causing hyperinflation. Try to get a reality check ukrobot.
You have no idea as you never live in the West. If you did you’d know. Your oligarchy knows however that’s why they love Western assets. They trust the West more than their own country.
BS CIA propaganda. They don’t trust the west, they had no other choice you can store money in the same country you stole from. Same reason why U.S. tycoons keep their money offshore, Cayman islands, Switzerland, so on. What makes you think I don’t live in the west? Im in the EU. Its a chithole. U.S. is the ven a bigger chithole. 130million on food stamps. 27tent cities. Drug, alcohol, crime epidemic. Russia and China look good in comparison. Wake up snd smell the coffee ☕
Are you an economist? Do you even remotely understand the petrodollar is the basis of US hegemony? Do you even begin to understand without petrodollar as global reserve currency the US will not be able to finance its military or Empire colonial wars? Do you understand that ‘money’ as you have always known it is just a system of exchange, and there have been many all conquering Empire based currencies that were eventually superseded, from Ancient Rome’s Aureus to Great Britain’s Pound Sterling. This process is, in fact, a historical inevitability, based on the global rise and fall of empires.
Nope you don’t grasp any of that, or even care to research it. Because you’re simply going to divert way off topic and start the usual Western anti-Putin/ Russophobe rant. There is more than enough western PSYCHOPS anti-Russia propaganda in MSM. So your diversionary rants are not required in the comments to a report about China and KSA, who about to begin the slow demise the petrodollar.
Hey I have to eat something too bro. Dont blame the messanger. Im getting paid by the number of posts and number of words. I don’t write them, only copy paste them. 25cent is 25cents. Best job I ever head. Plus a free bag of potatoes and some irradiated Chernobyl vodka for Free. Duh…
Forgot to add Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
Why do you even try to keep with the propaganda here when it’s clear that this site is a Russian bunker. You’re speaking to the walls. I just come here for some healthy dose of disagreeableness. As twitter is getting boring. My words are free however, I just want to see the Russians think for a moment. I’m starting to lose hope.
Dont lose hope. Trust your dear leader. Im your best President ever 😈💯🍷
Only CIA News Network and SBU news are telling the Truth. Dont bother with Ruski propaganda my child. Now come here, have a candy 🍬🍭 and sit on my lap…
I read ruski propaganda and I must admit it’s pretty bad. The only explanation I can find why Russians would believe in ruski propaganda is because of their very low intelligence level. That must make a man like Putin feel really smart. But it’s not Putin who’s smart, it’s his people who are dumb. See how it is intelligence is always relative. And it’s certainly the case that feeling smart does not equal to being smart
Our perception is to short lived to understand what is truly going on.
The devil in a retreat battle doesn’t mean everything gets better right away. We have to change ourselves, not others, that’s the decision of the others themselves. We can only stay as true as possible to ourselves, that’s it. 🤷
Too much wishful thinking on your end too.
Saudis have nukes and have already used it in Yemen 2-3times. Bunker buster neutron bombs. But if you are a vassal to the crumbling americant empire its ok. Hush and its gone. Memory hole +doublethink…
Saudis don’t even know which way around to put a screw in. 🙄
Wrong it was the U.S. shark whom wanted to swallow Ukraine. But Russia wont let you swallow :) U.S. did some brainwashing. Russia will do the same in reverse. It works trust me.
For that Russia needs a success, doesn’t look good for them. 🤷
You were supposed to turn RIGHT once past Andromeda!
“West is compensating it’s demographic decline by immigration.”
Which is not the reason for why they promote mass immigration. They intentionally lowered the birth rate to provide dubious justification for replacing the White population.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/IChLvWv1wC5J/
https://thuletide.wordpress.com/2022/03/08/timeline-of-the-replacement-migration-agenda-short-post/
That’s rubbish. Population decline has many causes, among the most important being widespread birth control and women getting into higher education and careers. It’s not at all deliberate but a normal evolution and development of societies
Who cares which color a population has or not. That’s not changing anything.
If there is a change, then it is a change of culture, like food culture, or music or art and things alike. That always has been an advantage, as open cultures, like the Roman Empire, profited from the knowledge and ideas of several cultures.
Romans not only took over the weapons from other cultures and altered them according to their needs.
It’s bullshit fear mongering from the far right who try to use such topics to their advantage.
Inhuman result of excessive worship. That gods do not exist only makes it more tragic.
Those folks know how to keep order. A close ally to the U.S. we keep arming and aiding these brave demonratic headchoppers in their efforts to spread freedoom and demoncrazy in Yemen and at other parts. Hope Russia snd President Putin pays attention. Thats what we like.
Wish I would have some quality headchoppers. Im stuck with impotent Azovisis.
USA, why you not kill Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and murder Mohammed bin Salman ?
KSA the spiritual and ideological home to all the extremist Sunni head-choppers. But hey, they agreed to the whole Petrodollars scam back in ’72! A financial recycling scam to bankroll the Jewish owned Federal Reserve, and also make the rest of the world soak up US inflation, from US overspending and reckless money printing. A financial Dollar recycling scam that was naturally entrusted to Jew Sectary of State Kissinger to push forwards with KSA back in ’72.
𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢 𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 $𝟓𝟎𝟎 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 $𝟏𝟔𝟐𝟎𝟓 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟐 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐆𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰. :) 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊.:) 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄……..http://Jobs28.ml/
And people like this, say they beleef in a God, in the name of Gods they the stupid debiel humans have killed humans for not a real raison at all, they just like to kill !
One of them was killed because he was caught with a Hezbollah video and Sayed Nasrallah picture.