The recent days have witnessed an escalation in the issue of the execution of minors in Saudi Arabia, which has completely undermined all the promises made regarding the death penalty against minors.
Since the Saudi Human Rights Commission published a royal order stipulating the implementation of the Juvenile Law issued in 2018, which prohibits the execution of death sentences against minors in Taazir rulings, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights has monitored grave violations, including the execution of the minor Mustafa Al-Darwish. Recently, the Specialized Court of Appeal approved a number of death sentences against minors, which raises serious concerns for their lives.
According to the organization's tracking, at least 9 people threatened with death are facing charges including what happened when they were under the age of 18. This is in light of information indicating that the number of threatened minors may be much higher, in light of the absence of any role for civil society and the intimidation of families.
The organization's monitoring shows that: Abdullah Al-Hweiti, Abdullah Al-Derazi, Jalal Al-Labad, Youssef Al-Manasef, Ali Al-Mabiyouq, Hassan Zaki Al-Faraj, are facing verdicts approved by the appeals, and therefore judgments before the Supreme Court, which is the last judicial stage before execution. While preliminary rulings were issued against Ali Hassan Al-Subaiti, Jawad Qureiris, and Mahdi Al-Mohsen.
Appellate rulings pending approval by the Supreme Court, which is the last level of litigation:
On 26 January 2023, the Court of Appeal transferred the death penalty sentence against the minor Abdullah Al-Hwaiti to the Supreme Court again, after formal objections to it. In March 2022, the Criminal Court in Tabuk had issued a Qisas death penalty ruling to kill the minor Abdullah Al-Hwaiti, replacing the previous death sentence with the Hirabah death penalty, which was overturned by the Supreme Court on 10 November 2021.
Although the verdict was overturned for reasons related to insufficient evidence and in light of Abdullah's denial of his confessions and his assertion that he was forced to sign them under severe torture, the sessions did not include a reconsideration of the validity of the confessions and Abdullah's assertion that he was tortured, and several violations were not investigated, including not having the right to defend himself.
The Public Prosecution accuses Abdullah of murder in an armed robbery that took place in May 2017. Abdullah was 14 years old at the time. According to the data, there are many impurities in the evidence on the basis of which Abdullah was charged.
The United Nations had condemned the previous sentence several times, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention classified his detention as arbitrary and called on the Saudi government to release him.
On 8 August 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the sentence against the minor Abdullah Al-Darzai and transferred it to the Supreme Court. Al-Darzai was born on 8 October 1995, and on 27 August 2014, he was arrested from the street under beatings and torture without an arrest warrant.
He was arrested at Tarut Police Station, then to the Dammam Investigation Department. Al-Darazi was subjected to enforced disappearance, as the family did not know his whereabouts for 3 months. He was subjected to beatings and burning, in addition to psychological torture. This led to burns around the eye, broken teeth and a knee injury, which led to his transfer to the hospital more than once. Then, in January 2015, the family was able to visit him for the first time.
In August 2017, after 3 years of detention, Abdullah Al-Darzai's trial began before the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh.
Al-Darzai faced several charges, including participation in demonstrations, marches, funerals for victims, and distribution of water during demonstrations, in addition to participating in forming a terrorist cell and assaulting public property. Among the charges brought against Al-Darzai, several occurred when he was younger than 18 years old.
During the trial sessions, Al-Darzai confirmed to the judge that he was severely tortured and forced to sign confessions he also indicated that he still suffers from ear pain and demanded a medical report, but he did not obtain it.
Al-Darzai was denied a fair trial, as a lawyer was not appointed for him until after the start of the trial sessions. Allegations of torture were not investigated. Based on these declarations, the court sentenced him in August 2018 to death by Taazir discretionary punishment. Al-Darzai did not face charges that are considered among the most serious in international law, which are defined in international law as "cases in which it is proven that there was an intent to kill that resulted in loss of life."
On 31 July 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court issued a Taazir death sentence against the minor Jalal Al-Labad (April 3, 1995), on the background of a number of charges that included demonstration, some of which date back to a period when he was a minor.
Al-Labad was arrested on 23 February 2017, after security forces raided his family's home in Awamiya. The squad that carried out the raid did not show an arrest warrant, and he was not summoned beforehand.
Jalal was subjected to horrific conditions of detention from the first day, including being isolated from the outside world in a solitary cell for nine and a half months, divided into two periods, and depriving him of his right to a lawyer, and he was subjected to severe torture and other ill-treatment that degrades human dignity, in the investigation period between February and December 2017, with the aim of forcing him to make specific statements. As a result of torture, he was admitted to the hospital more than once, as a result of frequent fainting, a drop in blood pressure, a weak heartbeat, and severe swelling in his right thigh due to the focused beatings on it.
Two years and five months after his arrest, Al-Labad's trial began before the Specialized Criminal Court. The Public Prosecution charged him with a number of charges, including participating in demonstrations when he was 15 years old and attending funerals for victims killed by government forces. On 4 October 2022, the Specialized Court of Appeal approved the Taazir death sentence against Jalal Al-Labad.
Yousef Al-Manasef (8 September 1996) was arrested on 6 April 2017 near the Qatif Court, in a violent manner that violates local regulations. Suddenly, Saudi security forces pointed their weapons at him and took him to prison, without presenting an arrest warrant or informing him of the reasons. He was then 20 years and six months old.
His family was informed of his arrest and transfer to the General Investigation Prison in Dammam. However, it was not allowed to see him or visit him until more than six months after his arrest, during which time he remained in solitary confinement and isolated from the outside world. In mid-October 2017, the prison administration allowed his family to visit.
During the period of detention, Youssef Al-Manasef was subjected to severe physical torture, which led to his loss of consciousness and hospitalization. The torture also caused him health complications and back pain. He underwent examinations at the Security Forces Hospital, but he did not receive the results, pictures, or medical report. The prison administration did not allow his family to visit him until after forcing him to sign confessions, which the Public Prosecution Office later used against him in court as evidence of the charges against him.
The Public Prosecution charged him with several charges, most of which occurred during his childhood. Among them: participation in the funerals of some people who were shot dead by the security forces in demonstrations and raids, one of which was 15 years old, and another when he was 16 years old, in addition to participating in riotous demonstrations and gatherings, chanting slogans, and raising anti-state slogans.
The Public Prosecution office did not present any evidence of the charges against the minor, Youssef Al-Manasef, except for declarations that he said before the court that they were extracted from him under torture. In addition to other declarations extracted from former detainees under similar circumstances.
On 16 October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court ruled Taazir death sentence against Youssef and others with him in the case, and on 9 March 2023, the Court of Appeal ratified the ruling against Al-Manasef.
On 28 November 2017, Hassan Zaki Al-Faraj (19 April 1997) was violently arrested from his home, where security forces shot and arrested him after beating him with two of his brothers. Hassan and his brothers were subjected to severe torture, and his brothers were later released, and he remains detained in the Dammam Investigation Prison.
From the moment of his arrest, Al-Faraj was subjected to severe torture, including beatings and electric shocks, which led to his transfer to the hospital several times, and to this day he still suffers from pain in his feet due to torture and he was forced to sign confessions.
Al-Faraj was kept in solitary confinement for about 3 months from the moment of his arrest, during which he was unable to communicate with his family. After his release from solitary confinement, his family was able to visit him, and he still gets visits, but they are not regular.
During the three years of detention, the government denied al-Faraj access to a lawyer. In 2020, his case was referred to the Specialized Criminal Court. After the first hearing took place in Riyadh in October 2020, he was able to hire a lawyer. Since the beginning of his trial, Al-Faraj attended only two sessions, as he was not brought to some sessions under various pretexts.
Al-Faraj was charged with several charges. In addition to the charges that dates showed that they date back to a time when he was a minor, the Public Prosecution charged him with charges including joining groups via phone programs, possessing prohibited photos, possessing weapons, joining a terrorist organization, harboring wanted persons, and assisting the wounded.
On 13 October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court ruled Taazir death sentence against Hasan, and on 15 March 2023, the court ratified his sentence and he became before the Supreme Court.
Ali Jaafar Al Mabiouq:
He was born on 12 August 1998, and was arrested on 29 January 2018, when he was 19 years and 5 months old. Upon his arrest, he was placed in the Dammam Investigation Prison. He was placed in the solitary cell, and subjected to torture and intimidation with the aim of signing the confessions.
After two years of detention, on February 24, 2020, his first session was held before the Specialized Criminal Court in one case with others.
Many charges were brought against him, including joining an armed terrorist organization, shooting several times at security men, monitoring, planning, and targeting government security headquarters, participating in riotous gatherings, covering up wanted security personnel, calling for and participating in sit-ins and demonstrations, promoting narcotic pills, and possession of a weapon.
Before the judge, Al-Mabiouq denied all the charges against him, and confirmed that the confessions were extracted from him under torture, and indicated that there was no material evidence of the charges against him. In addition, he indicated that the demonstrations in which he was accused of participating took place when he was a minor.
Despite this, the judge issued a Taazir death sentence against him, and on 15 March 2023, the Court of Appeal ratified the sentence.
Initial Rulings Transferred To Appeal
Jawad Abdullah Qureiris was born on 16 October 1997, and on 1 January 2021 in Qatif, he was arrested from his home in a raid carried out by security forces that are likely affiliated with the Presidency of State Security, which was established in July 2017, and which is considered the security arm of the king and his crown prince.
Qureiris was subjected to torture from the moment of arrest during the interrogation with the aim of extracting confessions, like severe beatings and severe psychological torture. He remained for 270 days in solitary confinement. As a result of what he was subjected to and for fear of being re-investigated, he signed the confessions statement.
In May 2022, his trial began before the notorious Specialized Criminal Court, and the Public Prosecution charged him with a number of charges, including what happened when he was less than 18 years old. Among the charges brought against him were following pages on Facebook, communicating with a wanted person, and training in the use of weapons and shooting. In addition, among the charges brought against him was the burning of oil pipelines.
In front of the judge, Jawad confirmed that the confessions were extracted from him under torture, and asked the Public Prosecution to present clips of the recordings in the interrogation rooms, which definitely prove that there was no admission of any of the charges and actions attributed to him. He also requested that the investigator and the arrest clerk be brought in to take their testimony about the torture he was subjected to.
In addition to torture, since his arrest, Jawad has been subjected to a number of violations, including depriving him of communicating with his family and of seeking the assistance of a lawyer during the investigation. After the start of the trial, the legal representative was denied access to all declarations and evidence. Despite this, the Public Prosecution demanded Taazir execution, and if he was exempt from it he should be sentenced with Hirabah execution.
The organization refers to Saudi Arabia, which had arrested Jawad's brother, Reda, in 2014 and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, and after 3 months it arrested his brother, Murtaja, to be the youngest political prisoner for whom the Public Prosecution demanded the death penalty before changing the request and sentencing him to 12 years in prison. At the end of 2018, Abdullah Qureiris father was summoned to the police station to be arbitrarily detained until April 2021, despite his deteriorating health condition. In addition, Jawad's older brother, Ali Qureiris, was shot dead by security forces during the 2011 demonstrations. On 13 October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court ruled a Taazir death sentence against Jawad.
Ali Hassan Al-Subaiti:
He was born on May 13, 1999, and was arrested on October 23, 2017. He spent 9 months in solitary confinement during his interrogation. In October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced him to death, on several charges on charges that occurred when he was twelve. Among the charges:
- Belonging to a terrorist organization that seeks to destabilize the internal security of the country by joining a terrorist organization, shooting, monitoring security men, participating in demonstrations, and covering up the targeting of citizens
- Seeking to destabilize the social fabric by participating in sit-ins and demonstrations
- Covering up the sale of weapons
- Participate in the transfer of materials
- Using social media to communicate with wanted persons
In addition, ESOHR monitored the Public Prosecution's request for the death penalty against Mahdi Saleh al-Mohsen, on charges that occurred when he was a minor. In light of the lack of transparency, ESOHR expects that there are cases of other minors facing the death penalty whose cases have not been monitored.
The European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights indicates that Saudi Arabia has executed at least 14 minors over the past years, after unfair trials and grave violations, and according to the organization's tracking, the bodies of the minors have not been returned to their families.
The organization believes that the recent developments in the issue of the execution of minors confirm Saudi Arabia's determination to continue the bloody course that has been escalating for years, and recent cases also confirm Saudi Arabia's disregard for its obligations, international laws, and even local laws. The organization believes that the numbers of executions, and the context used by Saudi Arabia to justify violations and circumvent laws, must be confronted with facts about the victims.