Saudi Arabia executes 37 convicted terrorists

Agency report

Reports say Saudi Arabia executed 37 people on Tuesday after they had been sentenced to death for terrorism-related crimes.

At least 33 of those executed belonged to the Sunni Muslim kingdom’s Shiite minority, and human rights organizations expressed doubts about the fairness of their trials.

According to the story first published in the New York Times, the executions were announced in a statement on the state-run news agency, which said the men had been put to death for “their adoption of extremist, terrorist ideology and forming terrorist cells to corrupt and disturb security, spread chaos and cause sectarian discord.”

Some men had been involved in bomb attacks on security headquarters that had killed officers, the agency said.

The statement also accused them of “cooperating with hostile parties in a way that damaged the high interests of the homeland,” it said.