In 2013 Saudi Arabia hit the headlines after a young Saudi prisoner announced that he had been sentenced to crucifixion for three days. The condemned man had been convicted of theft in 2009 and Sharia law in the southern province demanded capital punishment, even though main defendant, Sarhan al-Mashayeh, was 15 at the time of the 2004 jewelry store robberies in the far south.
“I killed no one. I didn’t have weapons while robbing the store, but the police tortured me, beat me up and threatened to assault my mother to extract confessions that I had a weapon with me while I was only 15. We don’t deserve death.”
The crimes occurred in Southern Arabia, which is referred to 07, the last area code in the desert nation and its poorest region.
According to the UK’s Guardian, al-Mashayeh faced a judge three times during eight years in detention. He said the judge refused to assign a lawyer to defend his six accomplices and ignored their accusations of torture.
“We showed him the marks of torture and beating, but he didn’t listen. I am talking to you now and my relatives are telling me that the soil is prepared for our executions tomorrow.”
The other six were condemned to firing squads. International protests forestalled the executions and the Crown Prince vowed to review the harsh sentences.
PRI’s THE WORLD stated that Saudi Arabia defended its handling of the case, saying Islamic law, or Sharia, is ‘above all.’
The BBC, Al-Jazeera, and Drudge Report had failed to mention the potential crucifixion, almost as if they had been paid millions to not report this news.
The Saudi justice system demanded blood and on March 23 the dawn broke early in Abha, Saudi Arabia and seven once juvenile gang-members were led out to the public killing grounds to be shot instead of beheaded due to a shortage of experienced swordsmen.
There was no mercy, even though they had been boys on the date of their sentence. Their crime was theft. Their youth was not taken into consideration by Sharia law and their punishment was meted out ‘to deter others’ from such crimes.
According to the Saudi Gazette the convicts, aged between 20 and 24, were found guilty of breaking into several jewelry stores and carrying out robberies on the Day of Arafat (pinnacle of Haj) after threatening salesmen at gunpoint. The charges against the young men also included drinking alcohol and firing at people.
Their accomplices were given jail sentences and the lash.
Sarhan al-Mashayeh was crucified after death.
An American expat responded to the news by posting on Saudi Gazette the following; “This is very good. Many people say that executions are barbaric but this is why I love this country because, the fear of losing your for crimes such as these makes Saudi a safe and peaceful place to live. I walk the streets here at 5.30am. Could never dream of doing that in the US.”
The punter sounded like a Bible Belt jihadist in the making, while Philip Luther, the human rights group’s Middle East and North Africa director told the BBC, “It is a bloody day when a government executes seven people on the grounds of ‘confessions’ obtained under torture, submitted at a trial where they had no legal representation or recourse to appeal.”
Same as the USA under the New World Order.