SAUDI ARABIA: A woman was beheaded in Saudi Arabia allegedly said to have sexually assaulted and killed her 6-year old step daughter.
“I DID NOT KILL. THIS IS INJUSTICE”
Those are the final words of accused murderer Layla bint Abdul Mutaleb Bassim before she was held down and beheaded in a busy street in the holy city of Mecca this week. The woman was pleading her case when the sword fell … twice.
She was accused of sexually assaulting and murdering her 6-year-old stepdaughter.
The execution was by no means an exception. This year alone, 10 people have been beheaded there — 87 people were executed last year and 78 people were executed there in 2013, placing Saudi Arabia behind only Iran and Iraq in terms of the sheer volume of state sanctioned executions. More than 2000 people were executed in Saudi Arabia between 1985 and 2013. Elsewhere, Blogger Raif Badawi was jailed for 10 years recently after starting a website for social and political debate in Saudi Arabia. Raif will receive 50 lashings a week for a year for setting up the Saudi Arabian Liberals website.
The prosecution first called for him to be tried for apostasy (when a person abandons their religion), which carries a death sentence in Saudi Arabia. Then, in May this year, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a fine of over $300,000 AUD and 1000 lashes. When he is finally released, Raif faces a 10-year travel ban which would keep him from his wife and three young children in Canada, according to Amnesty International.
Spokesperson Amelia Freelander said there are many examples of serious human rights violations taking place in Saudi Arabia that the rest of the world might not know about.
“In 2013 and 2014, at least three people were executed in Saudi Arabia for crimes that were allegedly committed when they were under 18 years of age, in violation of international law,” Ms Freelander s
