A PRISONER has been CRUCIFIED and another had his head impaled on a spike during a day of mass executions in Saudi Arabia.

The 37 citizens killed during today's beheading bloodbath had all been convicted of terrorism offences in the hardline kingdom.

The killings were carried out in Riyadh, the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, central Qassim province and Eastern Province, home to the country's Shiite minority.

Saudi authorities later revealed that one person was crucified after his execution – a punishment reserved for what are deemed very serious offences.

It also publicly placed the executed body and severed head of a convicted Sunni extremist on a spike as a brutal warning to others.

Law makers added that the men were charged with "adopting terrorist extremist ideology, forming terrorist cells" and harming the "peace and security of society".

One of the men executed was aged just 16 at the time of his arrest, according to Amnesty International.

Those executed had been involved in attacking a base killing a number of security officers, the Saudi Press Agency statement said.

The slaughter of mainly minority Shiites is likely to stoke further regional and sectarian tensions between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Saudi dissident Ali Al-Ahmed, who runs the Gulf Institute in Washington, identified 34 of those executed as Shiites based on the names announced by the Interior Ministry.

"This is the largest mass execution of Shiites in the kingdom's history," he said.

SHAM TRIALS

Amnesty International said they were convicted "after sham trials" that relied on confessions extracted through torture.

It marked the largest number of executions in a single day in Saudi Arabia since Jan. 2, 2016, when the kingdom executed 47 people for terrorism-related crimes.

The Interior Ministry's statement said those executed had adopted extremist ideologies and formed terrorist cells with the aim of spreading chaos and provoking sectarian strife.

It said the individuals had been found guilty according to the law and ordered executed by the Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh, which handles terrorism trials, and the country's high court.

Amnesty International said 11 of the men were convicted of spying for Iran and sentenced to death after a "grossly unfair trial."

At least 14 others executed were convicted of violent offences related to their participation in anti-government demonstrations in Shiite-populated areas of Saudi Arabia between 2011 and 2012.

The Interior Ministry said the body of one of the executed men Khaled bin Abdel Karim al-Tuwaijri was publicly pinned to a pole.

The statement did not say in which city of Saudi Arabia the public display took place.

He appears to have been convicted as a Sunni militant, though the government did not give a detailed explanation of the charges against each individual executed.

Today's killings brings the number of people executed since the start of the year to around 100, according to official announcements.

Last year, the kingdom executed 149 people, most of them drug smugglers convicted of non-violent crimes, according to Amnesty's most recent figures.





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