Apostasy, murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

 

The UN human rights office today highlighted Saudi Arabia's "rampant" use of torture to obtain confessions and an almost threefold increase in executions in the kingdom last year. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville said: "We are alarmed at the significant increase in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia in 2011." Mr Colville said the number of executions jumped from 29 in 2010 to at least 70 last year, while rights group Amnesty puts the 2011 figure at 79 executions. "What is even more worrying is that court proceedings often reportedly fall far short of international fair trial standards and the use of torture as a means to obtain confessions appears to be rampant," he said. Apostasy, murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.