Saudi Arabia executes seven for armed robbery

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visit the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. The Prince will be asked to raise the issue of human rights when he visits Saudi Arabia after the conservative Islamic kingdom executed seven men for armed robbery. REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous

The seven were sentenced to death in 2009 for crimes committed in 2005 and 2006 when human rights groups said some were younger than 18.

Amnesty International condemned the executions and called on Britain's Prince Charles to raise the issue of human rights when he visits the conservative Islamic kingdom on Friday.

"We would hope that he would raise some of the concerns that Amnesty have," UK director Kate Allen said.

A spokesman for Prince Charles, who is heir to the throne, said the prince's discussions are private and declined to comment further.

Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict interpretation of sharia, has faced criticism by Western countries for its frequent use of capital punishment and trials that human rights groups say do not meet international standards.

In January, King Abdullah said he had full confidence in the kingdom's justice system after the United Nations voiced concern over the trial of a Sri Lankan woman who had been executed.

The seven men executed on Wednesday, from Asir Province in the south of Saudi Arabia, had been due to die last week but were granted a stay of execution while authorities reviewed their case.

They were convicted of theft, including armed robbery, the Interior Ministry said. Amnesty International and the men's families have said the robberies included one at a jewellery store.

Relatives told Reuters last week the men had been forced to confess to unsolved crimes in the district, in addition to the armed robbery they had carried out.

Amnesty said the men later retracted a confession which they said had been obtained through torture, without giving details of the confession.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, denies it uses torture.

Human rights activists in Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest Gulf ally, said the seven were executed by firing squad.

"The charges against all seven persons were allegedly fabricated and all seven were convicted following unfair trials," the U.N. experts said in a statement on Tuesday.

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The Interior Ministry named the men as Sarhan al-Mushaikh, Saeed al-Amri, Ali al-Shehri, Nasser al-Qahtani, Saeed al-Shahrani, Abdulaziz al-Amri and Ali al-Qahtani and said they were part of a gang responsible for crimes including armed robbery and theft.

"By the grace of God, the security authorities were able to apprehend the perpetrators" whose sentence to death was "a punishment" and "to deter others", the ministry said.

A group of relatives and friends of the men went to the royal court last week to seek a retrial or pardon from the king, arguing they had been denied proper access to legal representation and their crime did not warrant execution.

The men were granted a stay of execution but were executed eight days later. They were shot at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Wednesday in Abha, the capital of Asir, one of the least developed parts of the country.

"I've lost faith in the judiciary and the political establishment," said a family friend who asked not to be identified.

A prominent Saudi lawyer and supporter of efforts spearheaded by King Abdullah to reform the judiciary by standardising sentencing and retraining sharia judges, defended the executions.

"We are in a society where we used to leave our shops open and go to pray... because we were sure nobody would come and steal our stuff. So to have an organised criminal group come and do such a thing, we don't like it," he said.

The lawyer said death sentences were reviewed by an appeal court, the high court and the king's office before the sentence was implemented.

"They don't just do the paperwork. No, they review the judgment," he said.