Saudi Arabia executes 7 men despite appeals

A Saudi firing squad executed in public seven men convicted of armed robbery despite last-minute appeals by rights groups that their lives be spared as they committed the crimes as juveniles eight years ago.

The condemned men were convicted of “forming a gang that carried out several armed robberies and thefts with the help of other people,” said the interior ministry in a statement published by the official SPA news agency.

They were executed “as a punishment to them and to deter others” from carrying out similar crimes, said SPA, adding their fellow robbers had been sentenced to various jail terms and lashes.