TEHRAN- Saudi Arabia has executed three men from the predominantly Shia-populated Eastern Province.

According to a statement published by the Kingdom's Interior Ministry, the three individuals have been identified as Saudi nationals and named as Hussein bin Ali bin Mohammed al-Moheishi, Fadhel bin Zaki bin Hussein Anseef and Zakaria bin Hassan bin Mohammed al-Moheishi.

The ministry's statement said that "by referring them to the Specialized Criminal Court, a document was issued against them proving their guilt in what was attributed to them."

The statement said this involved "joining a terrorist cell, the possession of weapons, training in using them, and armed assault on security centers and security men with the intention of killing them."

It also said that "Fadhel is convicted of raping a person at gunpoint and photographing the person" and that "Zakeria is convicted of indecency with a number of girls."

The statement further said, "The execution was carried out on Sunday in the Eastern Province."

It concludes with a similar warning that is written following every execution in Saudi Arabia, which the Interior Ministry publishes a statement that says: "the Ministry of the Interior, is announcing this to confirm the keenness of the Kingdom's government to establish security, achieve justice, and implement God's rulings for anyone who transgresses the innocent, spills their blood, or disgraces their honor, and at the same time warns everyone who dares to commit such criminal terrorist acts that legal punishment will be their fate."

The executions have been carried out less than a week after Saudi Arabia implemented the death sentence on two young Bahraini men following eight years of imprisonment.

They also come two weeks after authorities carried out death sentences against three young men from the Shia-populated al-Qatif region in the oil-rich Eastern Province (also referred to as the Eastern region) over charges of involvement in sabotage activities.

The Interior Ministry said the Saudi nationals “had joined a foreign-based network in order to carry out acts of terror against the kingdom."

They were found guilty of "having received training in the use of firearms and making bombs, smuggling men wanted on security charges out of the country, bringing in ammunition and storing them for the purpose of disturbing internal security.”

According to international human rights organizations, dissent in the predominantly Shia-populated Eastern Province has been met with a heavy crackdown. The minority Shias who reside in the Kingdom's Eastern Province have previously complained of being marginalized.

In March 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Office, citing a group of experts, welcomed a decision by Saudi Arabian officials to commute the death sentences handed down to three individuals from the Eastern Province for crimes allegedly committed when they were less than 18 years old.

The UN body said, "Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher were arrested and sentenced to death for charges that the experts previously considered to represent criminalization of the exercise of fundamental rights".