The executioner's toll
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.While the possible fate of British nurses Deborah Parry and Lucille McLauchlan continues to make headlines, other young women have knelt before the executioner's sword in Saudi Arabia without a word of protest uttered in the West, writes Robert Fisk.
Just two months ago, a young west African woman was beheaded in public in Jeddah, while three other women - two Pakistanis and a Saudi - had their heads cut off in Saudi Arabia last year.
Zahrah Isa Ali was executed on 30 June after being found guilty at a secret trial of trying to smuggle an unspecified quantity of heroin into the kingdom. The Saudi woman beheaded a year earlier, Dhafira bin Said bin Mohamed al-Salim, had been convicted of shooting her husband. The two Pakistanis, both convicted for trying to smuggle heroin, were beheaded together in Jeddah on 26 November last year. They were executed along with three Pakistani men.
Amnesty International finds it difficult to obtain details of executions in the Arab Gulf states, but has kept a log of at least seven women beheaded or shot in the region up to 1995. They include an 18-year-old Sri Lankan girl who was shot in the United Arab Emirates for allegedly killing the baby of the family for whom she worked. She denied the charge. In the Saudi city of Dammam - where the British nurses are held - a Saudi woman and her daughter were executed together after being convicted of killing the woman's husband. Their veils were torn from their heads by their executioner before he decapitated them.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments