THE MASS EXECUTION INVOLVING 37 MEN INCLUDING ONE BEING CRUCIFIED

 Inside Saudi Arabia’s medieval death row as record numbers are beheaded, crucified and paralysed amid Newcastle takeover

Public beheading, crucifixion and paralysis are all part of its ruthless and medieval justice system, which has seen record numbers executed.

Killings include a horrific mass execution involving 37 men, including one being crucified and another having his head impaled on a spike.

But the £300million footie deal will leave the Saudi Public Investment Fund, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, owning 80 per cent of the Magpies.

It has come under fire from human rights campaigners Amnesty International, who called for the Premier League to "overhaul their standards".

They slammed the deal as an attempt to  “sportswash their appalling human rights record with the glamour of top-flight football”.

CEO Sacha Deshmukh said: “Instead of allowing those implicated in serious human rights violations to walk into English football simply because they have deep pockets, we've urged the Premier League to change their owners' and directors' test to address human rights issues.

"The phrase 'human rights' doesn't even appear in the owners' and directors' test despite English football supposedly adhering to Fifa standards."

Saudi Arabia executed a record 184 people in 2019, compared to 149 the year before, according to Amnesty figures.

Most of them were drug smugglers convicted of non-violent crimes.

The figure dropped to just eight in 2020 as it hosted the G20 presidency but it has ramped them up in the first half of this year.

A total of 40 were executed up to July, the latest figures from Amnesty show.

Among those currently facing beheading is Abdullah al-Howaiti, who was 14 when he was arrested on a murder charge he denies.

In 2017, the kingdom carried out 146 executions while in 2016 the country killed 47 men in one single day in a horrific mass murder.

Those killed during the beheading bloodbath had all been convicted of "terrorism offences" in the hardline kingdom.

However, one of those beheaded, Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, was arrested while attending an anti-government protest when he was aged just 16.

He was convicted of being a "terrorist" in a trial branded a "farce" by Amnesty International.

Saudi has the third highest rate of executions in the world behind China and Iran, according to Amnesty.

Crown Prince Salman wants to make the desert kingdom a tech savvy 21st century nation and has introduced liberal reforms.

Yet for all his ambitions, the country still has the trappings of one caught in an altogether different era, particularly when it comes to its justice system.

Saudi Arabia retains the death penalty for a large number of offences including drug trafficking and “sorcery” as well as murder.

The majority of death sentences are carried out in public by beheading, drawing comparisons with the shocking brutality of the Islamic State.

The system is based on Sharia law, which the Saudis say is rooted in Islamic tradition and the Quran.

While they insist trials are conducted to the strictest standards of fairness, evidence has emerged from the country to suggest the opposite.

Trials are reported to have lasted a day and confessions extracted under torture.

The country has no written penal code and no code of criminal procedure and judicial procedure.

That allows courts wide powers to determine what constitutes a criminal offence and what sentences crimes deserve.

The only means of appeal is directly to the King, who decides whether the condemned lives or dies.

The list of punishments makes for grim reading.

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