In what activists in the conservative Gulf kingdom say is a sign of the “backwards” nature of Saudi Arabia, a man convicted of murder was executed this week by sword. It comes after 9 Bangladeshis were recently beheaded in the country. “It is wrong and disgusting to kill anyone in this way,” said one rights activist in the country. He told Bikyamasr.com via telephone that “doing this just gets people thinking we live in the Dark Ages.” The execution was in Najran in the south. The Saudi interior ministry said that the convicted Mohammed al-Jawad had shot dead a fellow Saudi. On October 7, two Saudi men convicted of murder were executed by the sword in the northern city of Tabuk, the Saudi interior ministry said. One was found guilty of stabbing to death two brothers, the other of killing an Afghan man with a machine gun. International rights groups have condemned the Saudi government its use of the death penalty. Saudi Arabia is in the top of global nations using capital punishment, along with China, Iran and the United States. Activists in the country are demanding an end to what they call “archaic” and “inhumane” means of killing convicted murderers. BM
