Amnesty International has called on the King of Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a Lebanese national, whose death sentence for charges relating to “sorcery” was upheld by a court last week. If the higher courts reject his appeal, ‘Ali Hussain Sibat, a former television presenter for a Lebanese...

Amnesty International’s interim Secretary General has hailed recent global efforts to end the death penalty but warned that more needs to be done to achieve the goal of full abolition.Claudio Cordone told delegates at an anti-death penalty summit in Geneva that campaigners were “winning” the fight...

Amnesty International has urged the Saudi Arabian authorities not to carry out the public flogging of a 13-year-old girl charged with assaulting a teacher at her school. The teenager will reportedly receive 90 lashes in front of her classmates, as well as a two-month prison sentence, following her...

The Saudi Arabian authorities must not carry out the imminent flogging and imprisonment of an elderly woman and two younger men, Amnesty International said on Monday. The Minister of Interior is reported to have ordered the immediate detention and flogging of a 75-year-old woman, Khamisa Mohammed...

Amnesty International has urged the King of Saudi Arabia to halt the executions of two men, sentenced to death on charges relating to “sorcery”. Lebanese national ‘Ali Hussain Sibat and another unidentified man, could be executed at any time if their sentences are upheld by the appeal and Supreme...

Amnesty International has condemned an execution in Saudi Arabia that saw a 22-year-old man beheaded and then crucified. Muhammad Basheer bin Sa’oud al-Ramaly al-Shammari was convicted of kidnapping and raping four people in February 2009. He was beheaded in the Saudi Arabian city of Hail on...

Amnesty International has called on all parties to the conflict raging in Yemen’s northerly Sa’da region to treat detainees humanely and protect civilians. Fighting between Yemeni government forces and armed supporters of the late Shi’a Zaidi cleric Hussein al-Houthi is reported to have spilt over...

 At least 158 people, including 76 foreign nationals, were executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities in 2007, and at least 102 people, including almost 40 foreign nationals, were executed in 2008. Since the beginning of 2009, a further 61 people are known to have been executed, including 18 foreign...

The executions of three foreign nationals in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday have been strongly condemned by Amnesty International. Two Sri Lankans and one Indian were beheaded in the city of Jeddah. They had been sentenced to death in June 2007 for their alleged killing of a woman at her home during an...

Amnesty International has welcomed the intervention of Saudi Arabia’s head of state, King ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz, to cancel a flogging sentence against a female journalist. Rosanna Al-Yami was sentenced on Saturday to 60 lashes, in connection with her work on a television programme during which...

US President Barack Obama begins his trip to the Middle East with a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. President Obama will meet Saudi Arabian King Abdullah in Riyadh, prior to giving a much-anticipated speech in Cairo on Thursday. Amnesty International has described the meeting as a key...

An “horrific” public execution and crucifixion of a man in Saudi Arabia has been condemned by Amnesty International. Ahmed bin ‘Adhaib bin ‘Askar al-shamlani al-‘Anzi was beheaded and his body crucified in a public place in Riyadh on Friday.   He had been sentenced for the alleged abduction and...