Saudi Arabia executes man for drug charges, family says he was tortured into confessing

Saudi Arabia has executed a Jordanian man whose loved ones said he was tortured into giving a false confession to drug-related charges. 

Hussein Abu al-Khair, 57, was arrested in 2014 after being accused of smuggling amphetamines while crossing into Saudi Arabia from Jordan, the BBC reported. He was later sentenced to death following a trial. 

The Saudi press agency announced the execution on Sunday. 

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Saudi Arabian flag in front of a fresco, Asir province, Abha, Saudi Arabia. The country announced it executed a man for drug charges over the weekend.  (Photo by Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images)

His sister reportedly said her brother was tortured into confessing to the crime.

"He never imagined a forced confession would be allowed in his trial," she told the news outlet. 

Al-Khair was a father to eight children and a driver for a wealthy businessman, the report said. The case against him drew international criticism, especially after Saudi Arabia ended its unofficial moratorium on the use of the death penalty for drugs offenses.

"We urge the Saudi government to halt al-Kheir's reported imminent execution and to comply with the Working Group's opinion by quashing his death sentence, releasing him immediately and unconditionally, and by ensuring that he receives medical care, compensation and other reparations," Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights said last year. 

In a press release, the Saudi government said it was announcing the execution to "confirm the keenness of the Kingdom’s government to combat drugs of all kinds because of the severe harm they cause to the individual and society."

"And to impose the most severe penalties on the perpetrators, deriving its approach from the righteous law of God, and at the same time it warns everyone who does that the legal punishment will be his fate," the message said. 

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The government said it executed 81 people Saturday for crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups.