Protest in front of Saudi Arabia embassy
Protest in front of Saudi Arabia embassyReuters

United Nations Human Rights Council member state Saudi Arabia today beheaded 37 Saudi citizens in a mass execution across the country for alleged terrorism-related crimes, publicly pinning one headless body to a pole as a warning to others.

It marked the largest number of executions in a single day in Saudi Arabia since Jan. 2, 2016, when the kingdom executed 47 individuals, including a prominent Shiite cleric whose death sparked protests in Iran and the ransacking of the Saudi Embassy there.

"The death penalty was implemented on a number of criminals for adopting extremist terrorist ideologies and forming terrorist cells to corrupt and disrupt security as well as spreading chaos and provoking sectarian strife," Saudi Press Agency (SPA) tweeted.

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry stressed the executions were carried out in full accordance with Islamic law.

The body of one of the men — Khaled bin Abdel Karim al-Tuwaijri — was publicly pinned to a poll for several hours. The Saudi government calls such executions a powerful tool for deterrence.

Saudi Arabia
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