[Iran Press TV] International rights groups say Soddy Arabia...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
plans to execute 14 Shia civilians following a "grossly unfair trial" over political protests.
"The rise in death sentences against Saudi Arabian Shia is alarming and suggests that the authorities are using the death penalty to settle scores and crush dissent under the guise of combating 'terrorism' and maintaining national security," said Human Rights Watch’s Sarah Leah Whitson on Tuesday.
Court documents seen by
For most of the time they were held in solitary confinement and their families denied access to them.
"The sham court proceedings that led to death sentences ... brazenly flout international fair trial standards," said Amnesty’s Middle East Director Lynn Maalouf.
"Death sentences based on coerced "confessions" violate international human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
law and are a repugnant yet all-too-common outcome in security-related cases in Saudi Arabia," added Maalouf. "These death penalty trials fail to meet even the most basic requirements for due process," he noted.
"The sentences should immediately be quashed," she added.