Dubai: Two Saudi brothers were executed after almost seven years in jail for murdering their mother who tried to stop them from joining Daesh in Syria, local media reported.
The duo were among 81 people put to death on Saturday in kingdom's largest mass execution. Most were individuals convicted of terrorism and capital crimes, including members of Daesh and Al Qaida, the Saudi Press Agency said yesterday quoting a ministry of interior statement.
The ministry said the death sentence was handed down to several others who were convicted of crimes such as murder and rape. “These individuals, totaling 81, were convicted of various crimes including murdering innocent men, women and children.”
The brothers’ crime dates back to July 2016. Driven by radical beliefs, they allegedly killed their mother after she tried to stop them from joining Daesh in Syria in a case that outraged Saudi society.
“The only thing (we have established) is that they (the twins) follow Takfiri ideology,” the ministry said, using a phrase which Saudi authorities use to refer to Islamist militancy. “The case is still under investigation,” said the spokesman, who declined to give further details.
In a statement after the attack, the interior ministry said that the twins, Khaled and Saleh Al Oraini, were arrested on suspicion of stabbing their 67-year-old mother Haila, their 73-year-old father and their 22-year-old brother at the family home in the capital Riyadh.
The mother, who died of her wounds, had objected to her sons joining ISIS terrorists in Syria. The father and brother were in hospital in a serious condition, while the alleged attackers were arrested trying to flee across the border to Yemen, media said.
