SAUDI ARABIA: RIYADH CONCERT STABBER SENTENCED TO DEATH
December 30, 2019: A Saudi Arabian court on 29 December 2019 sentenced to death a man accused of stabbing three performers at a live show in the capital Riyadh in November, state television said. Another man on trial for the same incident was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison, al-Ekhbariya television said. The 11 November attack occurred at King Abdullah Park, one of several venues hosting a months-long entertainment festival as part of government efforts to open up Saudi society and diversify its economy away from oil. The assailant had previously been identified as a 33-year-old Yemeni resident in reports broadcast by Ekhbariya. Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 against the Iran-aligned Houthis. The victims of the attack, two men and a woman, sustained "superficial wounds" and were stabilized after receiving medical care, state media reported at the time. (Sources: Reuters, 29/12/2019)
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