Headlines
Executioners wanted in Saudi Arabia
Riyadh, May 19
Saudi Arabia’s civil service
ministry listed on its website eight new job openings -- for the
position of executioner. The job responsibilities will likely include
beheadings and amputations - two of the most prominent punishments for
crimes in the Saudi kingdom, including for drug smuggling, arms dealing,
murder, and rape.
The eight positions, as advertised on the
website of the civil service ministry, require no specific skills or
educational background for “carrying out the death sentence according to
Islamic Shariah after it was ordered by a legal rulingâ€.
But
given the grisly nature of the job, a scarcity of qualified swordsmen in
some regions of the country and a rise in the frequency of executions,
candidates might face a heavy workload.
Saudi Arabia’s justice
system doles out death sentence, usually by beheading in a public
square, for drug dealing, arms smuggling, and murder and other violent
crimes.
Although the law also mandates that thieves in some
cases have their hands cut off, that punishment was rarely carried out
because judges consider it distasteful, according to Saudi lawyers.