Saudi Arabia forms Islamic counterterrorism coalition
Source: AP
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia says 34 Muslim-majority nations have agreed to form a new military alliance to fight terrorism with a joint operations center based in the kingdom's capital, Riyadh.
The announcement carried early Tuesday by the Saudi Press Agency says the Saudi-led alliance was established because terrorism "should be fought by all means and collaboration should be made to eliminate it."
While Saudi Arabia's regional rival, Shiite Iran, is not part of the coalition, the alliance brings together diverse Muslim countries from several continents, including Mali, Malaysia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Egypt as well as neighboring Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates.
The announcement comes as Saudi Arabia leads a military intervention in Yemen against Shiite rebels and is part of the U.S.-led coalition bombing the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/32e804ed4b0948ffbdc81bc315e3629b/saudi-arabia-forms-islamic-counterterrorism-coalition
= new reply since forum marked as read
Saudi Arabia is planning to execute more than 50 people, found guilty of terrorism, in a single day. The move was immediately slammed by Amnesty International, which said the Saudis are “using the guise of counter-terrorism to settle political scores.”
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http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2015/05/19/saudi-arabia-advertises-for-eight-new-executioners-as-religious-functionaries/
Saudi Arabia advertises for eight new executioners as “religious functionaries”
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https://plus.google.com/wm/1/+GeorgeKanaris/posts/AzAxdA5w3Gn
Mohammed Saad-al Beshi, a Saudi state executioner, told Arab News in 2003 that he felt that he was carrying out “God’s work” and that “when prisoners get to the execution square, their strength drains away.”
The practice is not confined to adults. According to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia executed at least one person under the age of 18 this year, a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The manner by which confessions are extracted also paints a bleak picture, activists say. ”The executions of people accused of petty crimes and on the basis of ‘confessions’ extracted through torture has become shamefully common in Saudi Arabia,” Boumedouha said.
(I will not post the picture that was on this web page as it is quite disturbing, you can check it if you so choose)
Riyadh fighting terrorism.
