UN experts stated that Saudi Arabia is still violating international law by carrying out death sentences despite the Kingdom’s recent decisions.
In a statement issued on 3 March 2021, the experts urged Saudi Arabia to quash the sentences issued against three individuals and release them, after its decision to commute the death sentences issued against them for crimes allegedly committed when they were less than 18 years old.
The Rapporteurs considered that this decision is a step towards the compliance of Saudi Arabia with its international human rights obligations, especially under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which prohibits execution for crimes committed by persons under the age of 18.
The statement was signed by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnès Callamard; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Nils Melzer; the Special Rapporteur on the right to peaceful assembly and of association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan; and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed.
The experts expressed their serious concerns regarding the conviction and continued detention of the three young men, noting that Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoun and Abdullah al-Zaher had all been arrested and sentenced to death on charges which the experts previously had considered to constitute a criminalization of the exercise of fundamental rights, including freedoms of assembly and expression.
The experts referred to information about the young men being subjected to torture and ill-treatment, forced to confess, and denied adequate legal aid. The statement reiterated the call on Saudi government to release the three young men or at least to retry them in accordance with international law and standards, without any delay.
The UN experts have expressed their deep concern about the fate of all those who still face the risk of execution, including Abdullah al-Huwaiti, who was tortured and sentenced to death for a crime allegedly committed while he was a minor.
The experts indicated that they are still receiving complaints about the use of torture and ill-treatment to extract confessions as well as complaints about the imposition of death sentences for crimes that do not amount as the most serious as stipulated in the international law. They also affirmed that the death penalty should in no way be applied to individuals who are exercising their fundamental rights of freedoms of expression, assembly, religion, or belief.
The experts called on the Saudi government to officially confirm the moratorium on executions for drug offences, which was announced in January 2021 but not yet codified, and urged it to halt all pending executions in the country.
The European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) stresses the significance of investigating the violations against the three young men, which were mentioned in the statement of the Special Rapporteurs and previous statements. It also indicates that, in light of the lack of transparency in the Saudi government’s dealing with execution cases, there are serious concerns that there exist other minors in prison under the threat of execution whose cases are still unknown.
The organization affirms that any reforms must be accompanied by effective means to stop the policy of impunity and to hold accountable those who are responsible for violations, including the executions of minors in the previous years, and the use of torture and ill-treatment against detainees.