Dec. 10 was Human Rights Day. On Dec. 12, Saudi Arabian authorities ordered the execution of a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery.
Although the Saudi Interior Ministry didn’t give details of the woman’s crime, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police, who stated that the woman had tricked people, making them believe that she could cure them of a variety of ailments. It was an outrageous response to a serious crime.
“Despite the fact that I hate violence against women, when it comes to God’s will, I have to carry it out,” said Muhammad Saad al-Beshi, Saudi Arabia’s top executioner, during an interview with the Saudi daily Arab News. And with remarkable calm he added, “It doesn’t matter to me: 2, 4, 10—as long as I am doing God’s will, it doesn’t matter how many people I execute.”
Beheadings of women in Saudi Arabia didn’t start until the early 1990s. Before then, they were shot. Up to the end of 2011, 49 women have been publicly beheaded, mainly in major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dahran. Executioners are proud of their job, which is handed down from one generation to the next. In Saudi Arabia, executioners use a traditional Arab scimitar approximately 44 inches long.
