Saudi Arabia: 'sorcery' execution condemned as 'appalling'

Saudi Arabia's government should establish an immediate moratorium on executions in the kingdom, Amnesty International said today after a Sudanese man convicted of "sorcery" was put to death.
Abdul Hamid bin Hussain bin Moustafa al-Fakki was beheaded in Medina on Monday. Saudi Arabia has now executed 44 people this year. Eleven were foreign nationals.

The crime of "sorcery" is not defined in Saudi Arabian law but it has been used to punish people for the legitimate exercise of their human rights, including their right to freedom of expression.

Abdul Hamid bin Hussain bin Moustafa al-Fakki was arrested in 2005 after he was entrapped by a man working for the Mutawa'een (religious police) who asked him to produce a spell that would lead to the man's father leaving his second wife. It was alleged that Abdul Hamid said he would do this in exchange for 6,000 Saudi Arabian riyals (approximately £1,000). Full story...

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