05 January 2016 :

The United Nations deplored the mass execution of 47 people by Saudi Arabia, calling on the Riyadh regime to commute all death sentences handed down in the kingdom. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply dismayed” by Saudi Arabia’s execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. “Sheikh Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process,” Ban’s spokesman quoted him as saying in a statement. The UN chief had raised the case of Sheikh Nimr with Saudi leaders on several occasions, the statement read, reiterating Ban’s stance against the death penalty and urging the kingdom to commute capital punishment. In October 2015, Ban had called on the Al Saud regime to revoke Sheikh Nimr’s death sentence. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein added that the well-known Shia cleric had not committed any crime viewed as “most serious” under international humanitarian law, and called on the kingdom to impose a moratorium on all executions. “Under international human rights law, the death penalty may only be imposed, in countries that still have this form of punishment, if a strict set of substantive and procedural requirements are met,” Zeid said. “The category of ‘most serious crimes’ for which the death penalty is still permissible, has been consistently interpreted by human rights mechanisms as being restricted to murder and other forms of intentional killing,” he added. “Convictions cannot be based on confessions obtained under torture and ill-treatment, or trial proceedings that fall short of international standards,” the High Commissioner said. “Now we see almost one-third of the 2015 total executed in a single day,” Zeid said. “That is a very disturbing development indeed, particularly as some of those sentenced to death were accused of non-violent crimes,” he added. He urged the government of Saudi Arabia to impose a moratorium on all executions and “to work with the UN and other partners on alternative strategies to combat terrorism.”