DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed three soldiers who were convicted of “high treason” and “cooperating with the enemy,” according to a statement from the kingdom’s defense ministry.
He said all three had been sentenced to death by a specialized court after a fair trial.
The ministry did not name the alleged “enemy”, but the executions took place in the southern border province of Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been at war for more than six years against the Houthi movement. aligned in Iran.
Saudi Arabia has been under growing global scrutiny over its human rights record since the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate and the arrest of women’s rights activists. .
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called on Riyadh to stop using the death penalty, citing allegations of torture and unfair trials.
Saudi Arabia denies the allegations.
According to the Commission on Human Rights, a government agency, it executed 27 people in 2020, the lowest in years, below a record high of 185 the previous year.
Reports by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Edited by Clelia Oziel