"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said Sunday he deeply regretted the news that 47 people had been executed in a single day in Saudi Arabia, and deplored the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and any other individual who had not committed a crime viewed 'as most serious' under international human rights law," a statement published on the UN human rights office's website said.
The UN rights commissioner labeled the execution "a very disturbing development indeed, particularly as some of those sentenced to death were accused of non-violent crimes," urging the Saudi authorities to impose a moratorium on all executions and cooperate with the United Nations to develop alternative anti-terror strategies.
Over 150 people executed in Saudi Arabia in 2015 constituted the highest recorded figure in two decades, according to Amnesty International.
