Jewelry Thieves Executed in Saudi Arabia

(IDEX Online News) – Saudi Arabian authorities have executed seven men convicted of robbing jewelry stores. The beheading took place last week, according SPA, the official Saudi New agency.

In 2009, a court convicted the men of organizing a criminal group, armed robbery, raiding and breaking into jewelry stores and sentenced them to death by firing squad or crucifixion.

According to an AP report, the men were juveniles at the time of the robberies. One of them told AP he was 15 at the time. Various media reports state that the robberies happened in 2005 or 2006.

There are also mixed reports about the execution. Most reports stated that the men were beheaded, while a few state that they faced a firing squad. Executions are carried out in public in the country.

"By the grace of God, the security authorities were able to apprehend the perpetrators" whose sentence to death was "a punishment" and "to deter others," the Interior Ministry stated.

SPA issued a statement on behalf of the Ministry of Interior that starts with a verse from the Quran:

"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."

The Washington-based Institute of Gulf Affairs, which campaigned for the suspension of the executions of the seven men, recently said in a note to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that one of the reasons the seven were sentenced to death was that "they hail from the south, a region that is heavily marginalized by the Saudi monarchy, which views them as lower class citizens."