Riyadh, April 4:  In the rarest of the rare incident, Saudi Arabia last month executed a murder convict during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, also spelled Ramzan. The right-wing group on Monday said such execution during Ramadan 2023 was not carried out in years. Capital punishment was carried out on March 28, five days into the holy month of Ramzan.

According to the media reports, the Saudi national was convicted of murder and was executed for his crime in the Madina region. The man had stabbed the victim and set him on fire. European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) released a statement over the incident and said that Saudi Arabia executed a citizen during Ramadan 2023. Notably, the records show that no sentence has been implemented during the holy month since 2009 in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia Goes On 'Killing Spree' Again, Executes 12 Men As World Remains Focused on FIFA World Cup 2022: Report.

Over 1000 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia when found guilty of different-different crimes since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to the power.  In March 2022, the Prince said that the country has ruled off its execution policy and it is applied only to the accused when found guilty in the case of murder or when someone threatens the lives of many people. Saudi Arabia Says It Has Executed 81 Convicts in Single Day.

The executions in Saudi Arabia are not new. Despite Prince scrapping policy, Saudi Arabia executed over 17 people. In 2022, Saudi Arabia has executed 147 people and in 2021 the figure was around 69.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 04, 2023 01:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).