"Chop-chop Square"

I found the following article in a recent edition of the Saudi Gazette:-

2 TRAFFICKERS EXECUTED

RIYADH (Rtr)
TWO foreign nationals were executed Sunday for
smuggling drugs, taking to 14 the number of reported executions in 2006.

The Saudi news agency said Adam bin Mohamed Ali Hassan from Nigeria and
Mahmoud Haji Shadi from Afghanistan were executed in the western city of Jeddah
on the Red Sea coast.
The Ministry of Interior said the two men were caught
in separate incidents smuggling cocaine and heroin.

Saudi Arabia implements strict Islamic law and usually carries out
executions by public beheading with a sword. The country executed 86 people in
2005 and 36 in 2004.
The Kingdom executes convicted murderers, rapists and
drug traffickers.

The article, although short, contains most of what I know about public executions in Saudi. The last sentence is not completely true: you can also be executed for witchcraft, apostasy from Islam and sodomy.

The executions usually take place in a large square (known as "Chop-chop Square") in the middle of one of Saudi's larger cities (Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam etc.). Just before an execution, the police will stop traffic in adjoining streets and direct all passers-by to the execution square.

I was once passing through the center of one of these cities when I came accross large crowds of people all moving in the same direction. I kept on going, but with hindsight, I realise that I just missed witnessing one of these executions.

They appear to be popular spectacles. In fact, the spectators are so convinced of the edifying nature of the spectacle that they will push westerners in the crowd to the front so that they can get a better view! Understandably, western women forced to watch one of these execution are usually quite upset by the experience.

I have heard that the executioner is, usuall, a non-Saudi to prevent blood feuds between him and the victims' families. I've also heard that after performing an execution, the executioner is so hyped up that he has to be restrained until he has calmed down. I suspect, however, that the last story is just that - a story.