Alarm at Reports That Saudi Arabia is Planning a Mass Execution

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Members of Magic Movement, a group of young Bangladeshis, stage a mock execution in protest of Saudi Arabia's beheading of eight Bangladeshi workers in front of the National Museum in Dhaka October 15, 2011. Eight... Andrew Biraj/Reuters

Two Saudi Arabian newspapers have reported that the kingdom is planning to execute more than 50 people convicted of terrorism, prompting alarm from human-rights group Amnesty International. The media outlet Okaz said that 55 people would be put to death for "terrorist crimes" that caused the deaths of 171 people, 100 of them civilians. A report on the Al-Riyadh website, now deleted, put the number sentenced at 52. Neither organization specified when the executions would take place.

Those scheduled for execution include alleged members of Al-Qaeda. According to Okaz (in Arabic) they are accused of plotting to topple the kingdom and attempting to carry out attacks using small arms and surface-to-air missiles.

Other detainees include residents of Awamiya in the country's oil-rich eastern province, Reuters reports. The town is home to many of Saudi Arabia's Shia minority and has been the site of protests against the ruling Sunni monarchy and its treatment of Shias. Those sentenced for execution, the BBC reports, have been accused of inciting rebellion and stirring up trouble in neighboring Bahrain. Following the news, people in Awamiya blocked roads with burning rubbish in protest against the punishment.

Amnesty International has said it's also concerned about the fate of six Shia activists "who were clearly convicted in unfair trials." Three of the group—Ali al-Nimr, Abdullah al-Zaher and Dawood Hussein al-Marhoon—are juvenile offenders. The mothers of five of the men have written to King Salman asking for mercy, Amnesty reports. They worry that their sons will be executed soon, after the boys were subject to random medical exams which could be a potential sign that their death sentences are due to be carried out within the next few days.

Amnesty says it is taking the reports seriously given the spike in executions in the kingdom. The group believes that Saudi Arabia has executed at least 151 people so far this year, the highest recorded figure since 1995. In 2014, by contrast, the country is believed to have executed 90 people.

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