KSA executes seven men despite international appeals

The Al Saud regime has executed seven people convicted of armed robbery despite appeals for clemency by the United Nations and rights groups.

According to witnesses, the execution was carried out on Wednesday at a public square in the southwestern city Abha, the capital of Saudi Arabia’s Asir Province.

The witnesses also said the convicts were “shot dead” and not beheaded as is customary in the kingdom. However, Saudi media said they were decapitated as usual.

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry also said in a statement that the men were convicted of “forming a gang that carried out several armed robberies and thefts.”

The seven men received death sentences in 2009 after being arrested in 2006, but human rights groups said some of them were minors at the time of the alleged crime.

The announcement of the execution came shortly after Amnesty International urged Saudi officials to stop the executions.

On March 10, Saudi daily Al-Youm reported that the regime is looking into replacing beheading with firing squads as a means of execution due to shortages in government swordsmen.

Saudi Arabia is the only country that still executes criminals by decapitation in public. The kingdom has beheaded more than 150 people in the past two years.