Riyadh, Jan 31 (EFE).- Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that it executed four Ethiopian expatriates convicted of murdering a Sudanese man in the conservative kingdom, where over 170 convicts met a similar fate last year.

According to a statement from the interior ministry, the four convicts had “participated and taken turns in attacking (the victim) with a thick wooden stick, stabbing him several times with a knife, after having tied his hands and feet.”

“They also tried to kill others, attack them, and rob them by the force of arms,” added the note, which points out that the execution took place today in Riyadh.

The ministry did not reveal dates or details of the trial, but the statement emphasized that “after investigations and interrogations, they were accused of committing the crime and were referred to the competent court.”

“What they have done is corruption on land, (for which) they were sentenced to death,” and “a royal order was issued to enforce what was decided by the Sharia,” or Islamic law, which is strictly applied in the kingdom.

In mid-January, the ministry announced the execution of a Saudi for having murdered an Afghan expatriate.

The nonprofit ALQST, based in the United Kingdom, said earlier in January that at least 172 people were executed in the Arab kingdom throughout 2023, four of them on New Year’s Eve, which it considered “a mockery of (Riyadh’s) promises to limit the use of the death penalty.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 196 death row inmates, 81 of them in a single day, the highest number of capital punishments in the country in the last 30 years, according to Amnesty International. EFE

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