Saudi executes two Bahrainis on terrorism charges

Saudi Arabia has put to death two Bahrainis accused of plotting terrorist operations, state media said on Monday, raising the number of similar executions to nine this month.

The Bahraini nationals, identified as Jaafar Sultan and Sadiq Thamer, had been charged with “joining a terrorist cell led by a man wanted in Bahrain”, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

Since May 2 Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most prolific users of the death penalty, has executed nine terrorism convicts, all but one in the eastern region where the Shiite minority is concentrated.

There have been more than 40 executions in Saudi Arabia so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on state media reports.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 147 people — including 81 on a single day for terrorism-related offences, an event that sparked an international outcry.

The two Bahrainis “received training in camps belonging to terrorist entities aiming to destabilise the security of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain”, SPA added.

They were also accused of aiding “terrorists” in Saudi Arabia by smuggling explosive materials and supporting plans to carry out terrorist attacks in the kingdom and in Bahrain.

More than 1,000 death sentences have been implemented since King Salman assumed power in 2015, according to a report published earlier this year by Reprieve and the European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights.

Bahrain has also carried out executions in recent years for terrorism-related offences. Bahrain accuses Iran of supporting and harbouring terrorists — a charge Tehran denies.