The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights has obtained confirmed information indicating that death sentences have been reimposed on juveniles and protesters after they were retried.
According to the details received by the European Saudi Organization, new rulings were issued following a series of sessions held in recent months after the previous sentences were appealed to the Supreme Court. On February 25, 2025, a lengthy session was held to pronounce the verdict for several individuals, including juveniles Yusuf Al-Manasef and Ali Al-Mubyoq, as well as Mohammad Al-Labad, Mohammad Al-Faraj, and Ahmad Al-Dagham, who were brought to court with their legs shackled in metal chains. There was also a heavy military presence at the court.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views the reimposition of the death penalty on individuals who only face charges that are not severe according to international law as not only a disregard for the right to life but also as cruel, continuous, and systematic torture of the detainees and their families. These families had hoped that their loved ones' trials would be revisited after years of being threatened with death, in the hope that they would receive a fair trial.
ESOHR views the retrials, following significant international criticism, as part of Saudi Arabia’s attempt to present itself as positively responding to such criticisms, making it seem as though the retrials were aimed at fixing the legal loopholes in the previous rulings. However, the reimposition of the death sentence decisively refutes this claim, especially since the organization has not received any information regarding accountability for those involved in torturing the detainees or investigating the torture process. Furthermore, the trials did not meet the criteria for a fair trial, including the right to adequate defense from the moment of arrest and other violations, in addition to information confirming the addition of fabricated charges.
The organization also highlights that among those re-sentenced were juveniles, exposing Saudi Arabia’s insistence on executing individuals charged with actions they allegedly committed when they were under 18, despite this violating both domestic and international laws. The Public Prosecution attempted to deny this information by citing the dates of some charges, but ESOHR believes this is part of an ongoing effort to issue ruthless death sentences and manipulate the law. The Committee on the Rights of the Child had called in one of its resolutions for the presumption that a defendant is a minor unless the prosecution proves otherwise. Accordingly, while the working group on arbitrary detention confirmed in its opinion that death sentences for juveniles in Saudi Arabia are arbitrary, reissuing these death sentences constitutes a blatant disregard of this opinion and a violation of both Saudi juvenile law and international laws.
Amidst the high number of executions since the beginning of 2025, with 65 death sentences issued in the first two months alone, following a sharp increase in executions in 2024, the reimposition of death sentences on detainees falls within the same bloody context, confirming Saudi Arabia’s persistence in this approach. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights considers these rulings to be a true reflection of how Saudi Arabia handles human rights issues—by evading accountability, stalling, and manipulating facts with no real positive impact on the victims.