International laws and treaties impose obligations on countries that still implement the death penalty to ensure that individuals facing this punishment are granted their full rights, including the right to seek pardon.
Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon, or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases." The Arab Charter on Human Rights, in its Article 6, confirms that every person sentenced to death has the right to seek pardon or to have the sentence commuted to a lesser penalty.
In Saudi Arabia, the King holds full authority to grant pardons in cases of public rights, which are cases where the state or society is the aggrieved party, rather than an individual. However, in cases of private rights, pardons cannot be granted without the consent of the rightful owner or the heirs of the victim. Article 23 of the Saudi Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that public criminal cases can be dismissed under specific conditions, including a pardon from the ruler.
On special occasions, the King may announce a royal pardon, such as during the month of Ramadan. Typically, royal pardons come with specific conditions and exclusions, often excluding crimes that threaten state security. The criteria for receiving a pardon often include good behavior in prison and the length of the sentence, among other factors.
In Saudi Arabia, judicial rulings are divided into three categories:
- Hudud: These are punishments for crimes considered transgressions against the limits set by God, which include various types, such as drinking alcohol, adultery, and banditry.
- Qisas: In Islamic jurisprudence, it is a punishment that requires the offender to be punished in the same manner as the crime committed
- Ta’zir: It is a punishment imposed by the judge and not mentioned in the law and Sharia.
Regarding death sentences, the right to pardon also depends on the type of ruling issued. Hudud sentences are not subject to pardon, and in Qisas sentences, the right to pardon belongs to the victim's family as it falls under private rights. Consequently, the King has the right to pardon in Ta'zir rulings.
Saudi Arabia claims to base its death sentences on Islamic Sharia law, beginning announcements of executions with Quranic verses and reiterating its commitment to applying a moderate interpretation of Islam and eliminating extremist rulings. This approach is intended to be reflected in judicial rulings based on interpretations of Quranic verses and Hadiths.
However, a review of several judgment documents and the monitoring of certain cases, especially involving political detainees, reveals that religious texts and statements from hardline clerics are selectively used to justify unjust rulings and impose harsher penalties on victims. Many clear texts that encourage and promote pardon are often ignored.
Application of Pardons in Saudi Arabia:
According to monitoring by the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, although an annual royal pardon is issued for prisoners of public rights, it does not include detainees facing the death penalty.
A person sentenced to death has the right to seek a pardon from the relevant party. In Ta'zir sentences, where individuals face charges related to public rights, there is often no victim or victim's family. The only authority empowered to grant a pardon is the "Wali Al-Amr," meaning the King. The Royal Court is considered the sole means of communication between citizens and the King and his Crown Prince.
In addition to the lack of any pardons in these cases in recent years, there is no clear mechanism for seeking a pardon, and the only known mechanism is to submit a request to the Royal Court. Nevertheless, the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights received information confirming that the General Investigation Directorate summoned a member of a family of individuals sentenced to death in a political case, warning them against submitting similar requests to the Royal Court again, considering that the family does not have the right to submit a pardon request to the Court, and that it only has to submit a request to the specialized criminal court in Riyadh that issued the judgment.
ESOHR believes that the right to seek a pardon is a fundamental right for every person facing a final death sentence. In cases where there is no victim and the charges are political, and the judgment is based on the judge's discretion, the party directly responsible for implementation or pardon is the King, and not the court, whose role is limited to issuing the judgment
ESOHR sees the use of the available royal pardon as a clear way to reduce the increasing numbers of executions, which contradict official promises to mitigate the use of this punishment. ESOHR points out that the repeated promises of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to halt death sentences in cases permitted by Islamic law primarily involve the King's use of pardon as a means to stop the implementation of death sentences that currently threaten at least 70 individuals, many of whom do not face charges of the utmost seriousness, including 8 minors.
ESOHR also emphasizes that depriving individuals facing punitive sentences of their right to seek pardon is a violation of international laws and a clear indication of Saudi Arabia's insistence on expanding the arbitrary use of the death penalty.