Seven men were publicly exectued in Saudi Arabia Wednesday after the victims' families and human righst groups appealed and asked for them to be released, AFP reported.

The condemned men were convicted of "forming a gang that carried out several armed robberies and thefts with the help of other people," the ministry said in a statement published by the official SPA news agency.

One of the robberies allegedly included a jewelry store in 2005. The seven men were sentenced to death in 2009.

Sarhan Al Mashaikh, Saeed Al Zahrani, Ali Al Shahri, Nasser Al Qahtani, Saeed Al Shahrani, Abdulaziz Al Amri and Ali Al Qahtani were executed "as a punishment to them and to deter others" from carrying out similar crimes, according to SPA, adding that their fellow-robbers had been sentenced to various jail terms and lashes.

A witness told AFP by telephone that the execution was "implemented a while ago at a public square in Abha," adding that the defendants were "shot dead" and not beheaded as is customary in the kingdom.

"It is a bloody day when a government executes seven people on the grounds of 'confessions' obtained under torture, submitted at a trial where they had no legal representation or recourse to appeal," Amnesty International MENA director Philip Luther told AFP. "They threatened their relatives with torture if they withdrew their confessions."

AFP reported that the seven men were scheduled to die on March 5, but it was postponed a week because France objected the executions and so did the United Nation human rights.

The UN said Saudi Arabia breached international standards of justice. The UN said the men had allegedly been convicted on the basis of trumped-up charges and flawed trials.