Don't they have mercy?': A mother on losing her son in a record year of Saudi executions

"In his four years on death row, Essam al-Shazly's mother was his only contact with the outside world. During their daily calls she would calm his fears, control her own tears and listen to his hopes of returning home. Speaking from the family home in Hurghada, a tourist resort on Egypt's Red Sea coast, she says he would tell her, Mom, I talk to you because I want to forget what I'm going through."

"Shazly had been found in the Red Sea off the west coast of Saudi Arabia near a floating car tyre that officials say contained amphetamine pills, opium and heroin. His mother says he had been thrown into the water by smugglers. He thought it was a minor issue and just prison. He called me, crying: Mom, they've sentenced me to death.' He was terrified."

Essam al-Shazly spent four years on death row with his mother as his only contact outside prison. She calmed his fears during daily calls as he expressed hopes of returning home and asked her not to ask about prison. He was found in the Red Sea near a floating car tyre that officials said contained amphetamine pills, opium and heroin. His mother says smugglers threw him into the water, coerced him into smuggling and that Saudi officials forced a confession. He was sentenced to death despite his mother's pleas that he was a fisherman, not a dealer. In December 2024 he was among 33 Egyptians in Tabuk facing execution; a year later six remained alive. Last year Saudi Arabia recorded 356 executions.

Read at www.theguardian.com