Almost 100 Beheadings So Far In 2016 And Counting... And No, It's Not ISIS

Amnesty International warned on Friday that a surge in executions carried out by Saudi authorities could see more than 100 people put to death in the first six months of 2016.

The London-based watchdog says that the kingdom carried out at least 158 death sentences last year, making it the third most prolific executioner after Iran and Pakistan.

This year, at least 94 people have been executed so far, “higher than at the same point last year,” Amnesty International said.

If executions continue at the same pace, “Saudi Arabia will have put to death more than 100 people in the first six months of this year,” the human rights group warned.

“Executions in Saudi Arabia have been surging dramatically for two years now and this appalling trend shows no sign of slowing,” said Amnesty International’s MENA deputy director James Lynch.

Lynch spoke of “pervasive flaws” in the kingdom’s justice system “which mean that it is entirely routine for people to be sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials.”

Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47 people were put to death for “terrorism” on a single day in January.

Among those was Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr whose execution sparked a diplomatic rift between Riyadh and Tehran. Nimr was a driving force of the protests that broke out in 2011 in the kingdom’s east, an oil-rich region where the Shia minority of an estimated two million people complains of marginalisation.

Nimr’s execution sparked protests after the death sentence was handed down based on confessions he says were extracted through torture. The case “provides a glaring example of the arbitrary use of the death penalty after proceedings that blatantly flout international human rights standards,” said Amnesty.

Following Nimir’s execution sources in the kingdom told Middle East Eye that prisoners arrested when they were children and others suffering from mental illness were among dozens of inmates executed in Saudi Arabia in January. One security source who witnessed the executions told MEE: “It was a massacre. There was blood and body parts everywhere.”

Nimr’s execution sparked protests in Iran, where mobs ransacked and set fire to the Saudi embassy, leading to Riyadh severing ties with Tehran and plunging the two regional rivals into a diplomatic crisis.

Nimir’s nephew, Ali al-Nimr, who was arrested with two others while they were still minors, is currently on death row.

Lynch urged Saudi authorities to “quash his conviction and order a re-trial immediately in proceedings that meet international fair trial standards without recourse to the death penalty.”

Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

“The Saudi Arabian authorities should end their reliance on this cruel and inhuman form of punishment and establish an official moratorium on executions immediately,” said Lynch.

Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.

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Appeals Judge Says Guillotine 'Probably Best' for Executions

They passed laws in Georgia to allow for the use of the guillotine on death row. But were you also aware a federal judge has now joined the ranks of those pushing for the use of guillotines nationwide? Now do you see why they “botch” executions? They need to make the people demand a better way to kill. PROPHECY WILL BE FULFILLED!  

Just as is predicted in the end times—death by beheading!  And this seems to be the way in which they are bringing this primitive form of punishment back to the present!  Of course, we can’t dismiss that this form of punishment has been taking place by sword in other parts of the world, such as the Middle East, for quite some time now. But the fact that this is now being pushed in a place where such punishment has been unheard of is BIG news!

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. ThenI saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received hismark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

We are very close! All of the cards are being put into place right now for the final events that are before us—the events spoken of in the book of Daniel, and the book of Revelation.  

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A federal appeals judge issued a blistering dissent in a death-row case on Monday, declaring that an execution system that relies on drugs is doomed and the guillotine would be better.

"Using drugs meant for individuals with medical needs to carry out executions is a misguided effort to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and peaceful — like something any one of us might experience in our final moments," Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote.

"But executions are, in fact, nothing like that. They are brutal, savage events, and nothing the state tries to do can mask that reality. Nor should it. If we as a society want to carry out executions, we should be willing to face the fact that the state is committing a horrendous brutality on our behalf."

Is Lethal Injection Painful?

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Kozinski went on to suggest that states that want to continue executing prisoners "return to more primitive — and foolproof — methods of execution."

"The guillotine is probably best but seems inconsistent with our national ethos. And the electric chair, hanging and the gas chamber are each subject to occasional mishaps," he continued. "The firing squad strikes me as the most promising. Eight or ten large-caliber rifle bullets fired at close range can inflict massive damage, causing instant death every time."

 

PAUL SAKUMA / AP, FILEJudge Alex Kozinski, of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The use of lethal injections has been under increased scrutiny in recent months, largely due to the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma, who regained consciousness and writhed in pain midway through the procedure.

States have also faced increasing difficulty in obtaining execution drugs because pharmaceutical companies refuse to sell them for the purpose of killing people. They have turned to less-regulated compounding pharmacies and tried to keep them anonymous to protect them from legal hassles and protests.

A wave of inmates have challenged the secrecy laws and rules, but so far the U.S. Supreme Court has not stopped an execution on that basis — although some states areconsidering other methods.

Wood's attorney, Dale Baich, said previous lawsuits argued the secrecy violated the Eighth or 14th amendments, while he is making a First Amendment claim.

“The Ninth Circuit has correctly recognized the importance of the information Joseph Wood seeks," Baich said. "Without greater transparency from the state, it's impossible for the public to engage in informed debate, which is the cornerstone of democracy. We look forward to Arizona's compliance with this ruling.”


The Arizona attorney general's office said it plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the stay of execution and allow Wood's lethal injection to proceed but had no comment on the judge's dissent.

Credit to NBC