14/03/2022 (Agence Europe) – The High Representative of the Union, Josep Borrell, denounced on Sunday 13 March the execution of 81 people in Saudi Arabia the day before, “in the largest mass application of capital punishment in the country since 2019”. “This represents another worrying increase in the trend of using the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, where 67 people were executed in 2021”, Borrell stressed, recalling the EU’s opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances, advocating for a complete de facto moratorium as a first step towards a formal and full abolition of the death penalty. In other news, blogger Raif Badawi, winner of the 2015 Sakharov Prize, was released on Friday 11 March after 10 years in prison for advocating an end to the influence of religion on public life in Saudi Arabia (see EUROPE 11455/12). (CG)