As Saudi Arabia celebrates victory over Argentine in the World Cup, praised by the football pundits, none mentioned that on the very same day of the match Saudi Arabia football executed two Saudi citizens for drug offences
It brought the total number of executions in the past fortnight to 17 (10 being foreigners).
Saudi Arabia has executed 130 people this year.
The next victim may be Hussein Abo al-Kheir, a Jordanian, who was arrested in 2014 for smuggling narcotics when crossing the Jordan border into Saudi, and says he only confessed when he was tortured, including being suspended from his feet and beaten on his stomach and legs.
An appeal court acquitted Kheir in March 2017, but the government ordered a retrial six months later, leading to a guilty verdict and he was re-sentenced to death in November 2017.
Much has been said about Qatar and its dismal human rights records regarding homosexuality. Iran's team members were rightly applauded for their solidarity with their nation's protests but silence on Saudi Arabia and other countries involved in authoritarian and totalitarian behaviour.
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