Saudi death penalty, even for a prince

This video says about itself:

Saudi beheading – Myanmar woman screams innocence before execution

1-17-2015 – A Myanmar woman beheaded in a Saudi street this week for killing her husband’s young daughter is seen screaming her innocence in a video posted on the Internet Saturday.

Saudi authorities have arrested someone for filming the incident, said local newspaper websites, including Okaz and Al-Riyadh, in reports accompanied by still shots from the recording.

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“I did not kill. There is no God but God. I did not kill,” cries the woman, covered in black, apparently kneeling on the pavement circled by police officers in the video on LiveLeak.

“Haram. Haram. Haram. Haram. I did not kill … I do not forgive you … This is an injustice,” she screams in Arabic, using the Islamic term for something that is forbidden.

The executioner, dressed in a white robe, forces her to lie down on the ground, near a pedestrian crossing. Mountains are seen in the distance.

“I did not,” she continues before a final scream as the executioner’s curved sword severs her head, in a traditional execution for the kingdom, which carries out death sentences in public.

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Several other videos purportedly showing beheadings in Saudi Arabia have circulated online over the past three years.

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Saudi Arabia executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013, according to an AFP tally.

A United Nations special rapporteur has said trials leading to the death penalty in Saudi Arabia are “grossly unfair”.

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Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death in the oil-rich Gulf state that is a close ally of Washington.

Saudi authorities identified Bassim as holding “Burmese nationality”, using the former name for Myanmar, but did not specify if she was from its Rohingya Muslim community.

In Saudi Arabia, some princesses of the royal family can get away with crimes for which non-royal women might get harsh punishment, including the death penalty. However, some other princesses may get tortured for not confirming to establishment anti-women rules.

In Saudi Arabia, some princes of the royal family can get away with things like drinking alcohol, wholesale smuggling of illegal drugs, rape etc. for which non-royal men might get harsh punishment, including the death penalty. Like with royal family women, there are a few exceptions to that rule.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

Saudi Arabia executes prince

Today, 05:46

In Saudi Arabia a prince has been executed. This was done according to the Saudi Interior Ministry because he had killed a man in a quarrel three years ago.

It’s about Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir, one of the thousands of members of the Saudi royal family. He is not known to have had an important job.

The death penalty in Saudi Arabia happens with great regularity, but there are hardly any cases of members of the royal family who have been executed. One of the most famous was Prince Faisal bin Musaid al Saud, who was executed in 1975 because he had murdered his uncle, King Faisal.

From the International Business Times today:

A Saudi state news service report said Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir was put to death in the capital Riyadh but the report did not mention the method of execution used. Generally, most death penalties in the Islamic kingdom are carried out by beheading in a public square.

In one respect, Saudi Arabia today differs from sixteenth or seventeenth century England. There, beheading was a ‘privilege’, only for nobility people condemned to death. Commoners were hanged.