RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia executed a Somali citizen, Mohamed Nur Hussein Gacal, on charges of trafficking drugs, specifically hashish, into the country. Gacal was among 45 Somali nationals sentenced to death several years ago by a Saudi court.
The Saudi Ministry of Interior confirmed that Mohamed Nur was executed in a prison in the southern city of Najran on Sunday.
Hassan Hussein Yusuf, the uncle of the executed man, said he received a call from Mohamed, who informed him that he was about to be executed and was tied to a pole. Hassan also appealed for clemency and sent his regards to Mohamed’s mother.
Somalia’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Aweys Haji Yusuf, stated that the Somali government was not informed about Mohamed Nur’s execution in advance, but efforts are underway to save the remaining Somali prisoners on death row.
The ambassador mentioned that they have been in contact with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior and the country’s courts and have formed a committee to seek a commutation of the death sentences to life imprisonment or to request pardons.
The other Somali prisoners have appealed to the President of Somalia to intervene and visit Saudi Arabia to help prevent their executions, as they were imprisoned alongside Mohamed Nur, who was executed.
The 45 Somali prisoners, arrested at different times, were accused of trafficking narcotics, including hashish, into Saudi Arabia, a country where the drug is strictly banned.
Some of the families of the Somali detainees in Saudi prisons have claimed that their children migrated through Yemen to Saudi Arabia and were forced to transport the drugs into the kingdom under duress.
It is unclear how the Somali government will address the death sentences of the remaining 44 prisoners, who have faced a long period of uncertainty, some of them being held in prison for nearly six years before their executions began.
