The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) is concerned after the a Saudi justice added new additional charges to the protesters Ali Saeed AlRebh and Muhammad Faisal Alshiyouk. This comes after they were sentenced to death on 06/09/2014 on statements established as a result of forced confession and torture. These new additional charges come after more than three years of detention, as they were arrested in February 2012.
AlRebh and Alshiyouk brought to the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh on Monday, 16/02/2015 to hear the additional charges, not knowing the purpose of these new charges on whether it will lead to a new case or harsh sentences combined to the initial charges. This trial happened without a counsel nor notifying their family members about it, held in a completely secret trial. AlRebh and Alshiyouk could not inform their families or counsel to assist them in their cases, moreover, they were both handcuffed and feet cuffed according to an eyewitness.
The SCC, which has been criticized by human rights organizations due to their violations of international standards for fair trials, has approved the death sentence on 06/09/2014 based on statements established as a result torture. This act violates Article 15 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceeding)[1]. Moreover, the suspects demanded the judges bring the investigators who tortured them, but the judge refused (Each State Party shall ensure that any individual who alleges he has been subjected to torture in any territory under its jurisdiction has the right to complain to, and to have his case promptly and impartially examined by)[2]. None of those officials were/are held accountable, as it states in article 13 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Torture in prisons and in detention centers are common in Saudi Arabia, especially for prisoners of conscience, in violation of (the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment), in which Saudi Arabia joined in 1997. This Convention states in Article 2, paragraph 2 (No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture). Also, the third paragraph of the same article states (An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture). Conversely, AlRebh and Alshiyouk were subjected to systematic torture.
The ESOHR has made it clear earlier in term of Ali AlRebh’s torture and symptoms, physical and psychological, as muscles twitching, continuous headache and back pain, swollen nose, cigarette burns on scattered in his body and extreme weight loss. Furthermore, torture and being detained in solitary confinement for more than 4 months has caused continuous panic which prevents sleep and panic attack during sleep that forced him to take sleeping aids pills for a while.
Yet, the defendants and their lawyers told the judge it more than once, but they ignored it completely and relied on those statements that results of torture.
تأتي هذه التهم الجديدة بعد أكثر من 8 أشهر على الحكم بالاعدام الصادر بحقهم في 09/06/2014 ، ما يضاعف القلق حول مصيرهم، إضافة إلى مصير سبعة معتقلين آخرين محكومين بالإعدام على خلفية مطالب حقوقية وآراء سياسية وعلى خلفية المظاهرات التي بدأت في السعودية منذ فبراير 2011، ليبلغ المجموع لحد الآن 9، كالتالي:
| Name | Birth | Arrest Date | Judge | Verdict date | Note | |
| 1 | Raza Jaffar Alrabh | 29/09/1988 | 11/06/2013 | Bandar Tuwijri | 26/05/2014 | |
| 2 | Ali Muhammad Al-Nimr | 20/12/1994 | 14/02/2012 | Omar Abdulaziz Al-Hussein | 27/05/2014 | was a minor when arrested, less than 17 years old |
| 3 | Ali Abdullah ALEtal | 12/10/1990 | 15/02/2012 | – | 08/06/2014 | |
| 4 | Ali Saeed Al Rabah | 02/12/1993 | 12/02/2012 | Omar Abdulaziz Al-Hussein | 09/06/2014 | |
| 5 | Muhammad Faisal Al-Shuyoukh | 09/09/1992 | 27/02/2012 | Omar Abdulaziz Al-Hussein | 09/06/2014 | |
| 6 | Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr | 1959 | 08/07/2012 | Omar Abdulaziz Al-Hussein | 15/10/2014 | |
| 7 | Daoud Hussein Al Marhoon | 06/02/1995 | 22/05/2012 | Abdulaziz Al Jaber | 20/10/2014 | was a minor when arrested, less than 17 years old |
| 8 | Abdullah Hassan Al-Zaher | 24/03/1996 | 03/03/2012 | Abdulaziz Al Jaber | 20/10/2014 | was a minor when arrested, less than 15 years old |
| 9 | Mohammed Al-Swemel | – | – | – | 02/12/2014 |
According to the execution law in Saudi Arabia, and after an appeal has approved the sentence, the case is then raised to the Supreme Court, and if it ratifies then what is left is the king signature.
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: (Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person)[3], and thus, ESOHR call the international community for immediately intervene to protect those sentenced to death for political motives, and who have undergone an unfair trials and appeal to the international community for the following:
- Condemn the death sentences that issued in the trials, which do not meet international standards since it established on torture and forced confession.
- Demand the Saudi government to drop the politically motivated sentences and unconditional release of all political prisoners, due to the torture and forced confession as it been described by ESOHR in multiple reports.
- Stop the use of torture in detention centers, especially in the Saudi intelligence Prisons where prisoners of conscience are held.
- Calling on government of Saudi to hold accountable those responsible for all cases of torture that carried out in detention centers in Saudi Arabia, either through giving orders, supervision or aware of the issue.
- Demand the Saudi government to meet the Convention against Torture’s requirements and implement treaty commitments and international agreements, which Saudi it has signed and joined.
- Allow the United Nations Special Rapporteur of torture and other cruel, inhuman or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment to visit urgently the Saudi prisons to investigate torture allegations and complaints. He has submitted a visit request to Saudi Arabia three times (2006.2007 and 22/12/2010) and has not been allowed yet.