Saudi Executes Three Yemenis for Homosexuality
Reuters, July 14, 2000
DUBAI — Saudi Arabia on Friday executed three Yemeni men found
guilty of engaging in homosexual acts and molesting young boys, the official Saudi Press
Agency reported.
It quoted an Interior Ministry statement as saying that a court had found the three men
guilty of "committing the extreme obscenity of homosexuality and imitating
women,’’ in violation of Islamic rules which ban homosexuality.
The three men, who were put to death in the southwestern city of Jizan, had also been
convicted of molesting boys.
Other ministry statements later said authorities also severed the right hands of a
Nigerian man, a convicted pickpocket, and two Saudi robbers.
The Nigerian had been caught stealing from worshippers at the Grand Mosque in the holy
city of Mecca, while the two Saudi men had been convicted of break-ins at homes and shops.
The executions raised to at least 70 the number of people put to death in the
conservative kingdom so far this year. Last year, Saudi Arabia executed at least 99 people
for various crimes.
The kingdom applies strict Islamic sharia laws, also executing murderers, rapists and
drug smugglers, usually by public beheading. The laws call for the amputation of the right
hand for theft.
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