We’ve heard a lot about Saudi Arabia’s mass execution in the news recently (CNN). The country carried out the death penalty on 81 people in a mass execution. Last year the Saudis executed 67. The crimes the men were put to death for varied. 37 of them were convicted of assassinating or attempting to assassinate security officers and police. The government says the rest were guilty of murder and high crimes or joining terrorist organizations, The organizations included ISIS, al Queda and Houthi rebel outfits.

The executions have received a lot of press. The UN condemned the executions. The UN and the press did not give much attention to the nation with the highest rate of executions in the world – The People’s Republic of China (Wikipedia). They also didn’t pay much attention to the nation with the highest rate of executions per capita – Iran (Wikipedia).

Not noted in the non-existent reports are that China executes people for crimes like violating censorship laws. Iran executes people accused of being gay, committing adultery, possessing pornography, blasphemy, apostasy and “waging war against God.” Whatever that’s supposed to mean.

There has been a concerted propaganda effort directed against Saudi Arabia for some time. The kingdom is a staunch US ally. For you Noam Chomsky fans out there, 63 of the first 65 stories that came from a news search “Saudi Arabia” were about the execution event.

The United States executes people too. See Case Study 39