Free Republic

With more people being executed since the start of 2015 than the whole of 2014, Saudi authorities are looking for more men to handle the execution blades, even exempting them 'from the usual entrance exams'. Saudi Arabia advertised job vacancies for eight executioners Tuesday, after beheading nearly as many people since the start of the year as it did in the whole of 2014. The civil service ministry said that no qualifications were necessary and that applicants would be exempted from the usual entrance exams for swordsmen. It said that as well as beheadings, the successful candidates would be expected...

Hu Xiao says his job as one of China's executioners is usually not very complicated, except for the time when a prisoner he was about to kill stood up and ran toward his loaded rifle. The rare glimpse into the ranks of China's executioners appeared in the Beijing Evening News newspaper Monday. Hu, a veteran judicial police officer, described the routine of shooting prisoners convicted of murder and other capital crimes in China, which rights groups say carries out more judicial killings each year than anywhere else in the world. "In fact, it's not as complicated as outsiders think. We...