632-1258. Asia, Africa, Europe Arab invasions of surrounding lands resulted in the establishment of one of the largest empires in history, the Arab Empire. In the major Arab trading city of Mecca, Mohammed was born around 570.

In 762, the second Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad and declared it the capital of the Caliphate.

All Muslims, under Islamic law, are not allowed to eat pork. Saudi’s expect non-Muslim foreign teachers to abide by this law while teaching in Saudi Arabia too, regardless of their own religious beliefs. It won’t be too hard to follow this law though, as generally only “Halal” foods are allowed to enter the country.

Saudi Arabia faced unprecedented international criticism in 2019 for its human rights record, including the failure to provide full accountability for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in October 2018, as well as the country’s dismal treatment of Saudi dissidents and human rights activists.

No wearing shorts. The US State Department advises male visitors to dress conservatively when visiting Saudi Arabia and not go without a shirt.

four wives

Ireland was the first country in the world to introduce a total smoking ban in 2004. The initiative made smoking in enclosed workplaces illegal, punishable by a fine of up to 3,000 euros (£2,157). The ban has has led to copycat laws across the globe. Scotland became the first country in the UK to follow in 2006.

Although repeated theft can be punishable by amputation of the right hand and aggravated theft by the cross-amputation of a hand and a foot, only one instance of judicial amputation was reported between 2007 and 2010. Homosexual acts are punishable by flogging, imprisonment or death.

Accurate religious demographics are difficult to obtain in Saudi Arabia, but it is believed that there are approximately 1.8 million Christians in Saudi Arabia.

In practice, China traditionally uses the firing squad as its standard method of execution. However in recent years, China has adopted lethal injection as its sole method of execution, though execution by firing squad can still be administered.

China is the world’s most active death penalty country; according to Amnesty International, China executes more people than the rest of the world combined per annum. However not all of China is retentionist as Hong Kong and Macau have abolished it for all crimes.

Currently, capital punishment in Russia is used only unofficially. Russia has both an implicit moratorium established by President Boris Yeltsin in 1996, and an explicit one, established by the Constitutional Court of Russia in 1999 and most recently reaffirmed in 2009.

List of offenders executed in the United States in 2020

George Junius Stinney Jr.

The 1984 escape from death row. Six inmates facing the Virginia electric chair made an escape from the facility on May 31, 1984. The inmates who escaped consisted of two of the Briley Brothers (Linwood and James), along with Lem Tuggle, Earl Clanton, Derick Peterson, and Willie Jones.

Some of the reasons for the high cost of the death penalty are the longer trials and appeals required when a person’s life is on the line, the need for more lawyers and experts on both sides of the case, and the relative rarity of executions.