S Arabia executes eight Bangladeshis

DUBAI, Oct 7 (Reuters): Saudi Arabia said it had executed eight Bangladeshi nationals on Friday for their part in an armed robbery in which a security guard was killed, the state news agency reported. Saudi Arabia, which has avoided mass protests that spread through Arab countries this year, carries out death sentences through public beheading, but it is unusual for eight people to be put to death at a time. Human rights group Amnesty International said last month more than 40 people had been executed in the country so far this year, including 10 foreigners. Mamoun Abdulmenan, Farouk Jamal, Suman Meah, Mohammed Suman, Shafiq al-Islam, Masoud Shamsulhaq, Abu Hussein Ahmed and Muteer al-Rahman were executed in the capital Riyadh, said an interior ministry statement carried by the news agency. The men were convicted of robbing a warehouse and killing the security guard, Hussein Saeed Mohammed Abdulkhaleq, an Egyptian national. Three other men were sentenced to prison terms of varying lengths, the statement in Arabic said. UNB adds, "Court proceedings in Saudi Arabia fall far short of international standards for fair trial and news of these recent multiple executions is deeply disturbing," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa. "The Saudi authorities appear to have increased the number of executions in recent months, a move that puts the country at odds with the worldwide trend against the death penalty." She added: "The government must establish an immediate moratorium on executions in the Kingdom and commute all death sentences, with a view to abolishing the death penalty completely." The beheadings bring the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year to at least 58, more than double of the 2010 figures. Twenty of those executed in 2011 were foreign nationals. According to reports, the Egyptian man was killed during a clash between the Bangladeshi workers and a group of men who allegedly were stealing electric cable from a building complex where the Bangladeshis worked. Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress or deception. At least 158 people, including 76 foreign nationals, were executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities in 2007. In 2008, some 102 people, including almost 40 foreign nationals, were executed. In 2009, at least 69 people are known to have been executed, including 19 foreign nationals, and in 2010, at least 27 people were executed, including six foreign nationals.