Saudi Arabia executed five Ethiopian nationals this week on charges related to drug possession, Human Rights Watch reported Tuesday. The executions followed trials that allegedly failed to adhere to due process, with some hearings lasting only a few minutes and conducted without translators or legal counsel.
According to the rights organization, at least 79 other Ethiopians are currently at imminent risk of execution on similar charges. Data cited by Human Rights Watch from the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights indicates that Saudi Arabia has executed at least 116 people this year.
The five individuals were reportedly charged with possessing hashish, a form of cannabis. "Saudi authorities are executing marginalized Ethiopian migrants after court hearings that sometimes barely last a few minutes without a lawyer or a translator," said Joey Shea, senior Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch. Many Ethiopians migrate to Gulf countries seeking work.
"Dozens of vulnerable migrants remain at risk of imminent execution after trials that were barely trials at all, in a system that treats their lives as disposable," Shea added. Saudi Arabia has not immediately responded to the report.
The kingdom is among several Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, that impose the death penalty for drug-related offenses. Saudi Arabia ranks as one of the world's leading executioners, surpassed only by China and Iran.
Last week, Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry stated it was "closely engaged" with Saudi authorities regarding issues affecting Ethiopians, including individuals facing legal proceedings. The ministry did not specify if these individuals included those sentenced to death for drug offenses.
In May, the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church issued an appeal to Saudi authorities, requesting a halt to the execution of Ethiopian nationals. Tsehay Wolay, whose son Kidane Angesom was executed on April 21, learned of his death from his son's cellmate. "They murdered my son," Wolay said last month. "I can’t even receive my son’s corpse so I can bury him properly."
Kidane, 32, had resided in Saudi Arabia for nine years, with four of those years spent in detention. His mother stated she never learned the specifics of the charges against him. "If they were going to kill him, why was all that suffering necessary?" she questioned.
Human Rights Watch asserts that Saudi Arabia's application of the death penalty conflicts with international human rights law, which affirms an individual's "inherent right to life" and restricts capital punishment to the "most serious crimes."