Saudi prince put to death over murder

Saudi Arabia has executed one of its princes who was convicted of the murder of a young man during a fight on the outskirts of Riyadh.  

According to a Tuesday statement released by the Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior, Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir was recently put to death for the murder of Saudi citizen Adel bin Suleiman bin Abdul Karim Mohaimeed.

The prince was found guilty in a Saudi court three years ago.

“Authorities were able to arrest the above-mentioned offender. After the investigations, they charged him of committing the crime and his indictment was sent to the General Court. He was charged with what was attributed to him and sentenced to death as retribution," read the statement.

The sentence was carried out according to a royal decree issued following approval by Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

The victim’s family had also been offered blood money in exchange for dropping the charges against the prince, but they denied and demanded justice.

The statement also stressed “King Salman’s keenness on enforcement of security, justice and God's judgments,” while warning that “legitimate punishment would be the fate of whoever tries to assault innocent people and shed their blood.”

Since the beginning of 2016, Saudi Arabia has executed over a 100 people, prompting Amnesty International to call for an “immediate” moratorium on the practice. Human Rights Watch has also called on the Saudi regime to abolish its “ghastly” beheadings.

“Saudi Arabia is speeding along in its dogged use of a cruel and inhuman punishment, mindless of justice and human rights,” said Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa head Philip Luther in July.

The kingdom says most of the executions are related to murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy. However, courts have also handed down death sentences to a number of activists over the past year only for criticizing the government on social media.

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