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Saudi Arabia has executed 81 people convicted of various crimes, from murder to belonging to armed groups, the Associated Press reported.

This is the largest known mass execution carried out in the monarchy in its modern history.

Executions in Saudi Arabia have fallen sharply in 2020.

The last such mass execution was in the country in January 1980, when the death sentences of 63 Islamists accused of seizing the Grand Mosque in Mecca a year earlier were carried out.

The massacre has now taken place at a time when the world's attention is focused on Ukraine and shortly before British Prime Minister Boris Johnson allegedly went to Saudi Arabia to discuss oil prices.

Saudi Arabia executes 81 people in a single day, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history https://t.co/xYxYLOIGOg pic.twitter.com/LiK4iy086f

- Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 12, 2022

Saudi Arabia