BEIRUT — Job seekers in Saudi Arabia who have a strong constitution and endorse strict Islamic law might consider new opportunities carrying out public beheadings and amputating the hands of convicted thieves.
The eight positions, as advertised on the website of the Ministry of Civil Service, require no specific skills or educational background for “carrying out the death sentence according to Islamic Shariah after it is ordered by a legal ruling.” But given the grisly nature of the job, a scarcity of qualified swordsmen in some regions of the country and a rise in the frequency of executions, candidates might face a heavy workload.
Saudi Arabia’s justice system punishes drug dealing, arms smuggling, murder and other violent crimes with death, usually by beheading in a public square.
Although the law also mandates that thieves in some cases have their hands cut off, that punishment is rarely carried out because judges consider it distasteful, according to Saudi lawyers.
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On Sunday, Saudi Arabia beheaded a man for a drug offense, making him the 85th person to be executed this year, according to a count by Human Rights Watch based on Saudi government statements. That is almost as many people executed all of last year, when 88 people were beheaded.
Thirty-eight of this year’s executions, including the one carried out on Sunday, have been for drug-related crimes with no allegations of violence, according to Adam Coogle, a researcher with Human Rights Watch.
In the United States, 35 prisoners were executed in 2014.
Saudi officials have not commented on the increased pace of beheadings, which Saudi leaders often describe as the best way to deter crime.
The call for executioners comes four months after King Salman, who has moved quickly to reorganize the government and promote a younger generation of officials, ascended to the throne.
So far, the king has not indicated any intention to reform the judicial sector, where deeply conservative judges have great power to define crimes and set punishments.
Analysts have speculated that the Saudi government is trying to send a message that it is tough on crime at a time when political chaos has consumed neighboring Arab countries.
Diplomats cited by Reuters have said that the rise in executions this year might be the result of new judicial appointments that have allowed a backlog of appeal cases to be decided.
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