BBC News
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image captionThe campaign group Reprieve said there was reason to believe the number of executions would rise in 2021
Saudi Arabia drastically reduced the number of people it put to death last year, according to a governmental body.
It attributed that in part to an unannounced moratorium on executions for drug-related offences, giving more non-violent criminals a second chance .
The campaign group Reprieve warned that the number might increase this year. The decline can partly be attributed to the Covid-19 lockdown from February to April, when the government carried out no executions due to restrictions to control the virus, it said.
Former economics professor Mohammed Fahad al-Qahtani becomes latest political detainee to challenge conditions at notorious Saudi facility
Mohammed Fahad al-Qahtani, a Saudi professor and human rights activist, has been detained since 2012 (Screengrab/Twitter) By Published date: 28 December 2020 14:30 UTC | Last update: 2 months 3 weeks ago
Jailed Saudi human rights activist Mohammed Fahad al-Qahtani has launched a hunger strike in protest against conditions at the notorious al-Hair prison, his wife confirmed on Monday. My husband entered the ninth day of the strike due to the stress on him by the al-Hair Correctional Department, Maha al-Qahtani tweeted.
She said the action was in protest at being denied the most basic rights, adding that her husband held Mohammed bin Ali al-Asmari, director-general of prisons in Saudi Arabia, fully responsible for threatening his health and life.