Saudi State Terror and Terrorist Beheadings

Although the execution of American military contractor Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia was a heinous act it is important that we look at it in a cultural and social context. The men who perpetuated this crime grew up in an atmosphere of what can only be described as state terrorism. Saudi Arabia averages about two public beheadings a week for such horrible crimes as witchcraft, prostitution and possession of alcohol. (Source: Amnesty International)

More than 1,100 people have been executed in the past 20 years, according to reports received by Amnesty International, although the true total is probably far higher. It is almost certain that all were sentenced to death after secret and summary hearings and with no meaningful appeal.

Often, the first warning prisoners have of their imminent execution is when they are taken out of their cell in handcuffs on a Friday, the day executions are normally carried out. They are taken to a public square, blindfolded and forced to kneel. The executioner raises a sword, then brings the blade down across the prisoner's neck. Sometimes more than one stroke is needed to sever the head. A doctor certifies that the prisoner is dead, then the body and head are removed and buried.

Foreigners are often victims. CBS’s 60 Minutes had a story in May, 2004 about how five Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian found themselves arrested for a November, 2000 car bombing in Riyadh and were systematically tortured into false confessions and convicted of those bombings. Two of the men, William Sampson and Sandy Mitchell received the ultimate punishment:

But Sampson and Mitchell were sentenced to something even worse.

“I was sentenced to something called Al-Had, which is the most extreme sanction, punishment, that they have and in that you're fixed to a wooden X, which is mounted in the ground, and you are partially beheaded,” says Sampson.

After two years of diplomatic pressure they were granted amnesty.

George W. Bush’s friends in the House of Saud and Saudi Arabia run a regime of terror that combined with the extreme Islamic teachings in the schools is in large part responsible for the current Islamic fundementalist uprising and the heinous beheadings of captors.