Saudi Arabia executed an American citizen.
Saudi Arabia executed an American citizen named “Bishvi Sharif Naji Nasif” who was convicted of the brutal murder of his Egyptian father.
According to the official news agency of Saudi Arabia, WAS, this execution was carried out in Riyadh region.
Yoav Lemer, an expert at Human Rights Watch, confirmed the execution and said that the use of the death penalty is increasing throughout the Middle East, and that Saudi Arabia, along with another country in the region, consistently has some of the highest execution rates in the world. .
Nasif, who was an American citizen, was found guilty of beating, strangling and mutilating his father and attempting to kill another person. The specific method of execution has not been disclosed, but Saudi Arabia has historically used beheading as a capital punishment.
Saudi Arabia’s frequent use of the death penalty has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and has potentially undermined the country’s efforts to improve its image through its Vision 2030 reform agenda.
Since King Salman came to power in 2015, more than 1,000 executions have been carried out.
While “Mohammed bin Salman”, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, has claimed to reduce executions in his country, the number of executions is still high. Last year, Saudi Arabia witnessed 147 executions, which is more than double the figure of 69 executions in 2021.
In 2022, 81 people were executed in one day for terrorist crimes, which also brought international condemnation.
America has not yet responded to Nasif’s execution. The US State Department previously confirmed that a consular official had visited Nasif in July, less than two months ago.
US-Saudi relations have had many ups and downs in the past years. Last year, American sources announced that the administration of US President Joe Biden is considering limiting and reducing military aid to Riyadh to punish Saudi Arabia as the unofficial leader of the OPEC Plus group after deciding to cut oil production. However, now one year after these threats, America has not been able to fulfill its threats against Saudi Arabia.
Another punitive option is to exclude Saudi Arabia from joint military exercises and regional conferences, the most important of which is the summits that the United States and its allies are planning to hold with the aim of establishing a joint air defense system in the region.
However, two U.S. officials and one reliable source indicated that no decision has yet been made in Washington and that the final decision will largely depend on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in December, and these sources said that if the meeting If the oil production increases, the Saudis will avoid American retaliatory measures.
According to NBC, some military officials in the United States are against reducing military cooperation with Saudi Arabia. According to them, abandoning Riyadh as Washington’s main ally in the region and not providing Patriot missiles and American equipment to them can endanger American forces and civilians living in Saudi Arabia and overshadow the overall stability of the region.
