On charges including insulting the royal family by chanting offensive slogans during demonstrations and gatherings, the Specialized Criminal Court in Saudi Arabia ruled a death sentence against Muhammad Abdullah Al-Faraj, after a trial marred by many violations.
Al-Faraj (September 3, 1992), was not wanted by security forces and was working as an employee in the private sector. On February 28, 2017, security men in plain clothes stormed his workplace in Dammam and took him away without an arrest warrant, where he was placed in the Dammam Investigation Prison.
Al-Faraj did not call his family until a week after his arrest when he told them that he had been arrested. He was placed in solitary confinement and had no contact with his family for 4 months.
Al-Faraj was subjected to torture by beating and handcuffing his hands to the door so that he would be hurt when opening and closing the door. He was also put in the air for a long time, and kicked until he passed out. He was threatened with the arrest of his sisters if he did not confess. His sister was also summoned for questioning on charges of hiding his laptop. The torture led to a torn knee and he did not receive the necessary medical treatment. The interrogator forced him to sign confession papers and did not allow him to read them.
After four years of detention and after his repeated requests, the state appointed a lawyer for him, but the lawyer did not cooperate, did not inform the family of the date of the hearings, and did not hand them a copy of the judgment later. On September 6, 2019, the first session was held before the Specialized Criminal Court in a collective court with 5 other detainees.
The Public Prosecution charged al-Faraj with several charges, including participation with the terrorist cell that killed Judge Muhammad al-Jirani with the intention of killing him and covering them up, receiving security training, shooting several times at security men and their car, raising slogans against the state, burning tires, and providing medical support to the wanted. In addition to the charge of seeking to destabilize the social fabric through advocacy, participation, promotion and incitement to sit-ins, demonstrations, funerals for the dead, and joining groups on social media.
When Al-Faraj heard the list of charges in court, he suffered a nervous breakdown because of the seriousness of the charges, which he did not know anything about. On November 3, 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced him to death, and the case is currently before the Court of Appeal.
Al-Faraj submitted several complaints to the official authorities, including the Supreme Judicial Council, and confirmed that he was tortured before the judge, despite this, none of his complaints were investigated.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights believes that the charges against Al-Faraj clearly show the political use of the death penalty, as the court considered participating in demonstrations and chanting slogans against the royal family as charges that necessitate murder. The organization also confirms that Saudi Arabia, in issuing death sentences based on confessions extracted under torture, violates its international obligations, including the Convention Against Torture, which it ratified in 1997.
According to the organization’s statistics, Al-Faraj, along with 64 people, are threatened with death in Saudi Arabia in various levels of litigation, despite the violations they have been subjected to since the moment of arrest, including enforced disappearance, torture and deprivation of the right to self-defence, up to the issuance of verdicts on charges including those related to the exercise of legitimate rights.