Four Nigerians beheaded in Saudi Arabia

Four Nigerian drug traffickers fell on the wrong side of the law in Saudi Arabia days before the just concluded Hajj exercise and were not spared by the authority, who insisted that they must be beheaded.







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The punishment was carried out sources said, just before pilgrims started arriving in the kingdom for the 2007 Hajj.


Saturday Independent gathered that the Nigerians, three men and a woman, were arrested about six months ago at the King Abdul Azziz International Airport in possession of cocaine and heroin.


The Kingdom operates strict Islamic laws, which stipulates death penalty for anyone caught trafficking in hard drugs. And even though human right groups have mounted intense criticisms against it, dozens of offenders are said to have been beheaded in the past few years.


Top officials at the Nigerian embassy in Jeddah confirmed the development, saying that the embassy has warned Nigerians of the implications of engaging in what they described as something that is "inimical to the image of the country and could lead to their untimely death."


One of the officials who craved anonymity said even though people are aware of the stiff penalty meted to drug carriers, they still indulge in the act. He said there are other vices, not acceptable to the Saudis which Nigerians engage in and which does not portray the image of the country in positive light.


"Even though our people know the consequence of perpetrating these illegal acts, they still do them. And you know, unlike some countries, the Saudis are not that flexible in looking at these offences. They will readily tell you that the law is very clear on what should be done to whoever engages in drug trafficking".


The diplomat, however, said several attempts were made at the highest level by Nigeria to see if the sentences could be commuted to life imprisonment.


Even so, the embassy has had to contend with the problem of Nigerians who come for either the Hajj or Umrah and refuse to go back home. Hundreds of Nigerians are said to reside in the country, particularly in Mecca illegally.


The Nigerian Charge D’affaires, Salman Shittu, reinforced this in his speech during the Hajj Pre-Arafat meeting with the Federal Government delegation led by Senator Teslim Folarin, when he said most of these people "engage in illegal activities and violate the laws of the host country with impunity thereby creating a bad image for Nigeria".

Full list

Date of execution Place of execution Name Nationality Gender Charge
1999
30.4.99 Mecca Al-Hassan Mussa Shahib Nigerian male drug smuggling
28.5.99 Riyadh Hawa Faruk Nigerian female drug smuggling
20.6.99 (not reported, possibly Riyadh or Mecca) Abdullah Ibrahim Muhammad Nigerian male armed robbery
2.7.99 (not reported) Ahmad Muhammad Kassem Nigerian male drug smuggling
16.7.99 Jeddah A'ishah Sa'adah Qasim Nigerian female drug smuggling
23.7.99 Mecca Idriss Aissa Muhammad Nigerian male drug smuggling
13.8.99 Jeddah Ibrahim Muhammad Ali Nigerian male drug smuggling
20.8.99 Jeddah (name not clear) Nigerian male drug trafficking
3.9.99 Jeddah Safira Ounbiyi Salami Nigerian female drug smuggling
10.9.99 Jeddah Juma'a Bin Salah El-Din Nigerian male drug smuggling
2000
13.5.00 Jeddah Sheik Lukman Muhammad Awl Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Adishno Abd-al-Wasi Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Taj-al-Din Adibayo Luwal Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Bayu Ibrahim Bulhan Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Niyar Mubarak Wayl Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Abd-al-Fattah Ulsjin Amos Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Uthman Muhammad Ibrahim Nigerian male armed robbery
--.5.00 Jeddah Al-Hajji bin Sataru bin Adimula bin Yusuf Nigerian male drugs offence

The Nigerians laid their beds and lied on it.

capital punishment for drug offenses is outrageous but this is the same country where a rape victim was flogged

sometime i wonder if we are the poorest of all people in the world or may be the greedest of all mankind. our orientation is very bad educated or not may god help to the promise land and not leave us here amen be petrotic Nigeria

the next time people try to traffic drugs they should contact theirlawyers and look at the punishment

WOW,  I always wonder why anyone would want to go to saudi arabia though knowing the law there is as hard as it is, let alone actual people commiting crime. Sort of like a gay dude moving out to Saudi Arabia. There are some things you just do not do and this is one of them.

I won't be surprised if the beheaded drug traffickers are Igbos

OgidiBoy:

I won't be surprised if the beheaded drug traffickers are Igbos

We all know the tribe that normally does this.
I am not going to post the link in order to avoid a tribalistic thread here.
Google it, find out the tribe that did it and keep to yourself.

Kobojunkie:

WOW, I always wonder why anyone would want to go to saudi arabia though knowing the law there is as hard as it is, let alone actual people commiting crime. Sort of like a gay dude moving out to Saudi Arabia. There are some things you just do not do and this is one of them.

well the trafickers go where the market is abi.
When a Saudi prince was putting his sim card on a fellow man aboard a yatcht on the high seas.
Gays are everywhere.

graphic,allah's command is carried out by his foot soldier.
allahu arched bar

AI INDEX: MDE 23/49/00
Date: 15 June 2000
amnesty international

SAUDI ARABIA
Execution of Nigerian men and women

Since March 2000 Amnesty International has published a series of reports critical of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. Among other serious concerns, which include torture, cruel judicial punishments and the persecution of political opponents and religious minorities, Amnesty International criticized the criminal justice system under which hundreds have been executed after summary and secret trials. Defendants have frequently been denied full and prompt access to defence lawyers and been convicted solely on the basis of confessions extracted under duress.

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of capital punishment in the world. Of the 766 executions recorded by Amnesty International between 1990 and 1999, over half were of migrant workers and other foreign nationals. While a high proportion of those were Asian migrant workers mainly from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Nepal -- who comprise between 60 and 80 per cent of Saudi Arabia's workforce -- at least 72 were Nigerians, mostly convicted for drug smuggling or armed robbery. By mid-June 2000 Saudi Arabia had executed 53 people, 25 of them in May: 19 were Saudi Arabian nationals and 30 were foreign nationals, including from Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Egypt and Iraq. Migrant workers and other foreign nationals have faced discriminatory treatment under the criminal justice system in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has expanded the scope of the death penalty to cover a wide range of offences, including offences without lethal consequences such as apostasy, drug dealing, sodomy and ''witchcraft''. The scores of people who are executed every year, many for non-violent crimes, are put to death after summary trials that offer them no opportunity to defend themselves and almost no protection against miscarriages of justice.

Execution is by public beheading for men and, according to reports, by firing squad or beheading for women, sometimes in public. Foreign nationals are sometimes not even aware that they have been sentenced to death and neither they nor their families are warned in advance of the date of execution. They are rarely if ever allowed to see their loved ones before they are executed.

For those in prison who fear they face execution, the psychological torment is extreme. A former prisoner released from a women's prison in 1999 described to Amnesty International the fear of a fellow woman prisoner accused of murder: ''Every time a guard opens her cell door she gets very scared [thinking] that they will come to take her out for execution.''

Relatives of those executed in many cases receive no formal notification that the execution has taken place. The governments of foreign nationals executed in Saudi Arabia are also not always informed.
The numbers of Nigerians executed between 1991 and 1999 in the figures below have been obtained from government news media in Saudi Arabia and may in fact be higher.
Nationality 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Total Percentage of total executions
Nigerian 1 7 3 28 6 17 - 10 72 9%

On 13 May 2000 seven Nigerians were beheaded after being convicted of the armed robbery of a bank in which victims were reported to have been injured. Three other Nigerians convicted of involvement in the same armed robbery had their right hands and left feet amputated. Another Nigerian was among eight prisoners executed between 25 and 30 May 2000.

Date of execution Place of execution Name Nationality Gender Charge
1999
30.4.99 Mecca Al-Hassan Mussa Shahib Nigerian male drug smuggling
28.5.99 Riyadh Hawa Faruk Nigerian female drug smuggling
20.6.99 (not reported, possibly Riyadh or Mecca) Abdullah Ibrahim Muhammad Nigerian male armed robbery
2.7.99 (not reported) Ahmad Muhammad Kassem Nigerian male drug smuggling
16.7.99 Jeddah A'ishah Sa'adah Qasim Nigerian female drug smuggling
23.7.99 Mecca Idriss Aissa Muhammad Nigerian male drug smuggling
13.8.99 Jeddah Ibrahim Muhammad Ali Nigerian male drug smuggling
20.8.99 Jeddah (name not clear) Nigerian male drug trafficking
3.9.99 Jeddah Safira Ounbiyi Salami Nigerian female drug smuggling
10.9.99 Jeddah Juma'a Bin Salah El-Din Nigerian male drug smuggling
2000
13.5.00 Jeddah Sheik Lukman Muhammad Awl Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Adishno Abd-al-Wasi Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Taj-al-Din Adibayo Luwal Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Bayu Ibrahim Bulhan Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Niyar Mubarak Wayl Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Abd-al-Fattah Ulsjin Amos Nigerian male armed robbery
13.5.00 Jeddah Uthman Muhammad Ibrahim Nigerian male armed robbery
--.5.00 Jeddah Al-Hajji bin Sataru bin Adimula bin Yusuf Nigerian male drugs offence

Amnesty International is also concerned at the high levels of judicial amputation carried out in Saudi Arabia, which it considers to be a form of torture as defined under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Saudi Arabia became a state party in 1997. So far this year 23 amputations have been recorded, compared with two in the whole of 1999. Seven of these were ''cross amputations'' (amputation of the right hand and left foot). On 13 May 2000 cross amputations were carried out on Kindi Amoro Muhammad, Nurayn Aladi Amos and Abdullah Abu-Bakr Muhammad, Nigerian nationals convicted of armed robbery and assault with seven Nigerians executed on the same day (see above). In June two Nigerian men had their right hands amputated following conviction for theft: on 1 June Muhammad Othman Adam in Mecca, and on 4 June Sanussi Sani Muhammad.

The Nigerian government has expressed concerns about the executions of Nigerians on a number of occasions. In March 2000 President Obasanjo urged the Saudi Arabian authorities to advise Nigerian pilgrims to Mecca about the imposition of harsh judicial punishments in Saudi Arabia. Following the executions and amputations in Saudi Arabia in May 2000, Dubem Onyia, deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, was reported in the news media as saying that the Nigerian government would not "sit back and watch Nigerians being maltreated, killed or maimed in any part of the world." While again adjuring expatriate Nigerians to study and obey the laws of host countries, the Minister expressed concern that the Nigerian authorities had not been informed in advance of the executions or amputations and said that it was seeking further information about the fairness of the convictions.

Amnesty International continues to be concerned about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, and urges the Nigerian government to use its prerogatives in inter-governmental organizations to seek improvement in the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.

@+osisi
Do you have any views other than derogatory remarks towards moslems? I hate to say this but grand mama osisi you're fast becoming to christianity what Abu Hamza is to moslems>hate preacher.

@RichyBlacK
Long time no see, how you dey?

OgidiBoy:

I won't be surprised if the beheaded drug traffickers are Igbos

OgidiBoy,

Please stop making careless statements like the one above! From the Amnesty International report I just posted, there are no Igbo names on that list. Of course you can come up with the argument that some of those names are either fake or of Igbo Muslims who use their Arabic names to travel. Such an argument would be tenuous since it's based on speculation. After all, if they are fake names, then they could be individuals of any ethnicity in Nigeria. Also, Igbos are rarely Muslims!

With all the religion-induced and government-encouraged persecution the Igbos (and even many Southerners) face in Northern Nigeria, I find it hard to imagine an Igbo person traveling to Saudi Arabia for any reason whatsoever. That detestable country called Saudi Arabia is the poster-child of backwardness, extremism, hypocrisy, racism, xenophobia and intolerance. They (the shameless House of Saud) use Islam as the cover to continue their perpetuation of barbarism, subjugation of their people, and execution of foreigners. We all know that foreigners are more likely to be beheaded in that stink-hole called Saudi Arabia (http://www.guardian.co.uk/rightsindex/Story/0,,201759,00.html).

Please, stop making careless statements about the Igbos.

Thanks.

Tornadoz:

@+osisi
Do you have any views other than derogatory remarks towards moslems? I hate to say this but grand mama osisi you're fast becoming to christianity what Abu Hamza is to moslems>hate preacher.

@RichyBlacK
Long time no see, how you dey?

@Tornadoz,

How far? Ol boy I dey o. Man just dey busy these days, you know how January dey dry like stockfish. How your end? Hope say no shaking.

@ Richy

Its a little unlikely that All the Nigerians involved would have been muslims. I think it is fairly obvious from that list that all concerned took on arabic names to better blend in with the local population. I'm sure they come from all kinds of tribes in Nigeria, but the local sounding name gets you by for the most part.

In truth, no ethnic linkages can be made from those names, our concern should simply be that they are Nigerians.

Saudi Arabia should deport these people for prosecution in their home countries instead of killing them.

Tornadoz:

@+osisi
Do you have any views other than derogatory remarks towards moslems? I hate to say this but grand mama osisi you're fast becoming to christianity what Abu Hamza is to moslems>hate preacher.

i never saw u hypocrites criticize abu Hamza.

debosky:

@ Richy

Its a little unlikely that All the Nigerians involved would have been muslims. I think it is fairly obvious from that list that all concerned took on arabic names to better blend in with the local population. I'm sure they come from all kinds of tribes in Nigeria, but the local sounding name gets you by for the most part.

In truth, no ethnic linkages can be made from those names, our concern should simply be that they are Nigerians.

Saudi Arabia should deport these people for prosecution in their home countries instead of killing them.

That's my point. OgidiBoy was trying to make a link where there was none.

Saudi Arabia is very unfriendly to foreigners, they only tolerate them during the Hajj, and wish them gone as quickly as possible. They show their disdain for foreigners by religiously beheading some before every Hajj. Foreigners there are either necessary experts; trust you're familiar with the list - surgeons, engineers, military advisers, etc. Or they are part of the wretched workers laboring day and night for slave wages.

No sane person should go to Saudi Arabia (except perhaps for the Hajj), she offers nothing but is ready to take off heads.

Tornadoz:

@+osisi
Do you have any views other than derogatory remarks towards moslems? I hate to say this but grand mama osisi you're fast becoming to christianity what Abu Hamza is to moslems>hate preacher.

If you're in the habit of referring to ladies who whip you as your grandma,I take that as a compliment

If a picture of a beheaded man causes  you to express an anger towards the poster than towards the beheader,you need to check into Yaba Psychia

davidylan:

i never saw u hypocrites criticize abu Hamza.

who the fried fish is Hamza ?

Osisi, that pic is truly grizzly. Could you please take it down. Damn!

ono:

Osisi, that pic is truly grizzly. Could you please take it down. Damn!

How much will you pay me?
You're talking to a lady from a long lineage of traders ROFL

Anything dear. How about chatting on msn for a while?

Hmm am not surprised afterall the islamic calender is still reading 1433, so what do you expect ?
They are passing thru the times, when the gregorian calendar was in that period pple in Europe & other parts of the world were still living this kind of barbaric life. They will get over it someday but the question is when ? !!!

?

Does this mean that there is a market for drugs in that Arab Kingdom?

RichyBlacK:

AI INDEX: MDE 23/49/00
Date: 15 June 2000
amnesty international

SAUDI ARABIA
Execution of Nigerian men and women

Since March 2000 Amnesty International has published a series of reports critical of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. Among other serious concerns, which include torture, cruel judicial punishments and the persecution of political opponents and religious minorities, Amnesty International criticized the criminal justice system under which hundreds have been executed after summary and secret trials. Defendants have frequently been denied full and prompt access to defence lawyers and been convicted solely on the basis of confessions extracted under duress.

The Nigerian government has expressed concerns about the executions of Nigerians on a number of occasions. In March 2000 President Obasanjo urged the Saudi Arabian authorities to advise Nigerian pilgrims to Mecca about the imposition of harsh judicial punishments in Saudi Arabia. Following the executions and amputations in Saudi Arabia in May 2000, Dubem Onyia, deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, was reported in the news media as saying that the Nigerian government would not "sit back and watch Nigerians being maltreated, killed or maimed in any part of the world." While again adjuring expatriate Nigerians to study and obey the laws of host countries, the Minister expressed concern that the Nigerian authorities had not been informed in advance of the executions or amputations and said that it was seeking further information about the fairness of the convictions,

Forget Amnesty International. what they want is anarchy. stop deceiving yourselves. All those self-righteous western countries torture when their interests are threatened. Britain has been outsourcing torture assignments to Pakistan. America sends detainees to countries that they openly accuse of torture
Singapore kills drug pushers. It is not a backward country. China does and it is growing rapidly. US fights drug war in South America. And you think they don't know those countries take extreme measures against drug pushers.  We need to do the same. You think that the Chinese who brought 45? cases of cocaine will attempt that in Thailand? Can we cope with the cost of massive surge in the number of drug addicts in Nigeria?
In 2007, a Nigerian (Tochi) was executed in Singapore for being carrying a small quantity of drugs unknowingly. The same week that happened, an actress "Wunmi" was arrested in Nigeria for a quantity of drug that dwarfed that of the Nigerian caught in Singapore. Wunmi was sentenced to a fine of N1million. She is back on Nollywood preaching hollow virtues.
I am sick of hearing that capital punishment does not deter. How many politicians will rig and loot if they know that they are risking death.
BTW Obasanjo is not worth listening to. When the Singaporean govt was about to kill Tochi, it took the pleas of some legislators for Obasanjo to make a belated and half-hearted appeal to Singapore. Of course nothing came out of it. A Ghanaian was also in the same position. Ghana acted fast and rescued their citizen. Note that my concern about Tochi was because he did not knowingly (as admitted by the Singaporean judge) carry the drug. I would support death were he really of guilty mind

But then again if you had a strong functioning government, they would have been pardoned and sent back home to be purnished.

We just dont know how to look after our own. if this was the US or UK those guys would have been pardoned and purnished in the UK

That said , I do not support the crime

BECAUSE THEY ARE NIGERIANS

bigbozz:
BECAUSE THEY ARE NIGERIANS

And why did you have to go and wake a very old post of 2008?

Oklander:
And why did you have to go and wake a very old post of 2008?

I just saw.

This is Sharia Law.. it should work in Nigeria

Afonja taking drugs to Saudi Arabia and getting killed since 1900