Saudi Arabia Executes 81 Men In 24 Hours In Biggest Mass Execution In Modern History
Saudi Arabia have carried out the largest mass execution in decades, killing 81 men all within a 24 hour period.
On Saturday 12 March, 2022, Saudi Arabia carried out the kingdom's largest mass execution in decades, executing 81 men for murder, terrorism, and other offences including holding "deviant beliefs".
Saudi state television described those executed as having "followed the footsteps of Satan".
The executions have been carried out just days before British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to the visit Saudi Arabia to discuss the current high oil prices which have surged to record highs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to the interior ministry, included in the executed men were seven Yemenis and one Syrian.
A statement said, "These individuals, totalling 81, were convicted of various crimes including murdering innocent men, women, and children, whilst others had joined foreign terrorist organisations such as Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and the Houthis".
37 Saudis were also executed for their roles in a plot to attack police stations and convoys, and assassinate security officers.
The death toll dwarfed the 67 executions reported in Saudi Arabia in the whole of 2021 and the record of 63 militants killed in one day in 1980 for seizing the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979. 47 people were executed in one day in 2016. In Saudi Arabia death-row inmates are usually beheaded.
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