In 2008, AI released a report finding that Saudi Arabia executed more people per capita than any other nation [JURIST reports]. According to that report, at least 1,252 people were put to death in 24 countries, with Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Pakistan and the US accounting for the vast majority of the executions. In July of that year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] released a report criticizing a lack of legal protections [JURIST report] for the 1.5 million migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. Among other proposed reforms, HRW called on the Saudi government to amend the 2005 Labor Law to cover migrant workers.

The 1998 Embassy bombings killed more than 200 people including 12 Americans, and Mohammed has been a fugitive ever since then. Before the Embassy bombings, Mohammed trained militants in Somalia and later planned attacks against Israeli tourists in Kenya. There was a $5 million reward for Mohammed, who was the most sought after individual in Africa. Mohammed was believed to be working with the militant group, Al-Shabab [Economist backgrounder] which controls a large portion of southern Somalia. In 2007, Mohammed was the target of two US air strikes in Somalia [JURIST report], but the State Department believed he was being protected by the Council of Islamic Courts. In May, US President Barack Obama [official profile] announced [JURIST report] that a small team of US military personnel had killed al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden [WP obituary; JURIST news archive]. Bin Laden had topped the US list of Most Wanted Terrorists [materials] and is believed to have approved or helped plan many notorious terror attacks including those against New York and Washington DC on September 11, 2001, the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole [JURIST news archives], the attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.