Saudi Arabia executes 81 convicts

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RIYAD—Saudi Arabia put to death 81 people who had been convicted of crimes including murders, rape, arms smuggling and links to terrorist groups, in the largest known mass execution in the history of the kingdom.

Most of those executed on Saturday were Saudis, according to the interior ministry. More than half were from the minority Shiite Muslim population, which has a history of militancy and protest against discrimination. Seven were Yemeni nationals and one was Syrian.

The interior ministry didn’t disclose how the men were killed. Executions in the past have involved beheading by sword in the kingdom, which remains among the world’s top executioners despite recent efforts to curb the use of the death penalty.

Saudi Arabia’s court of appeals and supreme court had heard cases for all those executed, and the sentences were sanctioned by royal decree, the interior ministry said.

Saturday’s executions are the most in Saudi Arabia in a single day, surpassing the 63 people killed in January 1980 in connection with the takeover of Mecca’s Grand Mosque by a group of Saudi extremists who took hostages and held the holiest site in Islam for two weeks before security forces reclaimed it in a military operation.

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