A young man held as he was set to fly to America to start university was among 37 people beheaded by Saudi Arabia for what it called “terror-related crimes”, campaigners said today.
Mujtaba al-Sweikat, below, was 17 when he was detained at the airport in the Saudi city of Dammam on his way to Western Michigan University in 2012, after allegedly attending a pro-democracy rally earlier that year during Arab Spring protests that swept the Middle East.
He was severely beaten all over his body, including the soles of his feet, and convicted after a confession extracted through torture, according to the campaign group Reprieve. It said two others executed yesterday were arrested as teenagers and tortured.
Reprieve claimed many of the people killed had been convicted of “non-lethal crimes”, such as attending protests, and added: “This is another egregious display of brutality by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.”
Mr Al-Sweikat was among 37 mostly minority Shia men executed. One was said to have been crucified.
