Human Rights Group Calls Saudi Executions a ‘Travesty of Justice'

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A human-rights group said yesterday that Saudi Arabia violated international law when it ordered the beheadings earlier this week of four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh.

Human Rights Watch said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing and that they were denied other basic legal rights.

The group called on Saudi Arabia to halt all pending executions and to retry those remaining on death row.

"The execution of these four migrants, who had been badly beaten and locked up for years without access to lawyers, is a travesty of justice," the Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a report.

Saudi officials did not respond to a request for comment.