7 men beheaded in Saudi Arabia in accord with Sharia law

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3/13/13, "Saudi Arabia beheads 7 men after appeals rejected," AP via Times of Israel

"Seven Saudi men convicted of theft, looting and armed robbery were beheaded on Wednesday, according to the country’s official news agency, more than a week after their families and rights group appealed to the king for clemency....
 

One of the men told The Associated Press earlier this month that he was only 15 when he was arrested as part of a ring that stole jewelry in 2004 and 2005. Nasser al-Qahtani said he was tortured to confess and had no access to lawyers.
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Al-Qahtani said that during the years-long trial, he only faced the judge three times and when the men tried to complain to the judge about the torture or show torture marks on their bodies, they were ignored. He also said the judge never assigned him a lawyer. They were convicted in 2009.
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The Saudi Press Agency said the executions took place in Abha, a city in the southern region of Asir. The south has been marginalized and suffered discrimination by the powerful central Saudi region where the capital, Riyadh, and holy shrines of Mecca and Medina are located.
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The original sentences called for death by firing squad and crucifixion. However, SPA said on Wednesday that the seven were beheaded. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said three men with swords carried out the executions.

The oil-rich kingdom follows a strict implementation of Islamic law, or Shariah, under which people convicted of murder, rape or armed robbery can be executed, usually by sword.

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Saudi Arabia has executed 23 people so far this year, including the seven men on Wednesday. Last year it executed 76 and in 2011, 79 people.

Also, several people were reported crucified in Saudi Arabia last year. Human rights groups have condemned crucifixions, including cases in which people were beheaded and then crucified. ...

On Sunday, a Saudi paper reported that the government is looking into formally dropping public beheadings as a method of execution and is instead considering death by a firing squad as an alternative. 

There have also been calls in the kingdom to replace public beheadings with lethal injections carried out in prisons.

Abha, where Wednesday’s executions took place, is located deep in the southwestern province of Asir. Southerners complain of systematic discrimination, and people there say they are perceived as second class citizens."... via Legal Insurrection

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3/14/13, "7 men beheaded in Saudi Arabia for stealing," CNN via yalibnan.com

"SPA (the Saudi News Agency) issued a statement on behalf of the Ministry of Interior that starts with a Quranic verse from the chapter “The Table Spread.”

“The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter.”"

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