Woman beheaded in Saudi Arabia for ‘sorcery’

The beheading of a woman convicted of “witchcraft and sorcery” is deeply shocking and highlights the urgent need for a halt to executions in Saudi Arabia. 

The Interior Ministry said that the woman, Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser, was executed on Monday 12 December in the northern province of al-Jawf. It gave no further details of the charges against her. 

Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said: “This is an absolutely appalling and sickening act.  The charges of ‘witchcraft and sorcery’ are not even defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia. 

“While we don’t know the details of the acts which the authorities accused Amina of committing, the charge of sorcery has often been used in Saudi Arabia to punish people, generally after unfair trials, for exercising their right to freedom of speech or religion.” 

Second of its kind

The execution is the second of its kind in recent months. In September a Sudanese national was beheaded in the Saudi Arabian city of Medina after being convicted on “sorcery” charges. He had allegedly confessed after being tortured and was tried without a lawyer. 

The number of executions in Saudi Arabia has almost tripled this year. So far at least 79 people – including five women – have been executed there, compared to at least 27 in 2010. 

Colm O’Gorman continued: “The huge rise in the number of executions in Saudi Arabia is deeply disturbing.”

Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty to a wide range of offences ranging from murder and rape to blasphemy, apostasy, sorcery, adultery and drugs-related offences. 

In December 2010, Saudi Arabia was one of a minority of states voting against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions. 

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