REVEALED:  You won't believe how many people Saudi Arabia executed while promising 'Reform'

Saudi Arabia has executed 330 people in 2024 - the highest number in decades - despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's grand promises of judicial reform and modernization.

The shocking figure, revealed in a December 24 report by human rights organization Reprieve, nearly doubles last year's 172 executions and marks a sharp rise from 196 in 2022. It's the highest number ever recorded in the kingdom's modern history.

This surge comes in direct contradiction to bin Salman's 2022 pledge to limit capital punishment to murder cases only. The Crown Prince had presented this reform as part of his "Vision 2030" initiative, aimed at transforming Saudi Arabia from a religiously restrictive state into a tourism and entertainment hub.

"This reform is built on a house of cards," a Reprieve activist said, pointing out that over 150 people were executed this year for non-lethal offenses - a violation of international law.

The numbers cast a dark shadow over Saudi Arabia's modernization claims, especially following the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. While then-candidate Joe Biden promised to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah state" over the killing, his 2022 visit to Riyadh - complete with a notorious fist bump with bin Salman - signaled a stark policy reversal.

Human rights activists warn that Western governments are turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's human rights violations in favor of economic and political interests, even as the kingdom's execution rate reaches unprecedented levels under its reform-promising crown prince.

Kikar HaShabbat contributed to this article.