Several human rights experts at the United Nations expressed their deep concern about the information they received regarding the request of the Public Prosecution Office in Saudi Arabia to execute the minor Yousef Al-Manasif, and demanded that it immediately stop all steps towards issuing the sentence.
The letter sent on 13 June 2022, was signed by the Vice-Chair of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Mumba Malila, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, and the Special Rapporteur on the death penalty Morris Tidball-Binz.
The experts indicated that the information they received showed that Yousef Al-Manasif (September 8, 1996) was arrested on April 6, 2017, without an arrest warrant and charges. The experts explained that the information confirmed that Al-Manasif was held in solitary confinement for 5 months, during which he was prevented from communicating with his family. They also indicated that he was subjected to physical and psychological torture and forced to sign confessions. The torture led to him losing consciousness and back pain, and he was unable to obtain the medical file and related reports.
In September 2019, the trial of Al-Manasif began along with five others in the same case. In it, he asserted before the judge that he was forced to sign the confessions and requested that the investigator be summoned, and referred to the violations he had been subjected to. Despite this, the Public Prosecution demanded that he be killed with the punishment of Haraba, and if the punishment was declined, he should be executed with a Taazir punishment.
According to the information received by the special rapporteurs, Al-Manasif was charged with several charges, including joining an armed organization, shooting at security forces, planning to target the Al-Awamiya police station, participating in demonstrations during which anti-state banners were raised and burning tires, participating, promoting and inciting sit-ins, and promoting narcotic pills.
The letter indicated that the information confirmed that Al-Manasif faced charges that occurred when he was a minor, including participating in the funeral of Zuhair Al-Saeed in 2011, Ali Al-Manasif, Hassan Al-Zuhri and Khaled Al-Labbad in 2012 and Morsi Al-Rebah in 2013.
The Special Rapporteurs indicated that the Public Prosecution Office bases the charges on confessions extracted under torture, without material evidence such as the weapon or its whereabouts at the time of the charges, or others.
The experts stated that imposing the death penalty on minors is a flagrant violation of international human rights law, and considered that this information constitutes a violation of the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture and ill-treatment. They also stressed that the charges show that there are no crimes of the most serious nature, which are defined in international law as cases in which it can be proven that there was an intent to kill that resulted in the loss of life.
The letter clarified the laws that the death sentence against Yousef Al-Manasif violated, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention against Torture, both ratified by Saudi Arabia.
The Special Rapporteurs reiterated their concern about the overly broad definition of “terrorism” under the Law on Combating Terrorist Crimes and Financing and recalled the criticisms of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights in the face of terrorism regarding the legislative framework for combating terrorism during his visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017. They also considered that Al-Manasif asserted that he was subjected to torture during the investigation which should have prompted the judge to direct a thorough and independent investigation.
The Special Rapporteurs expressed their concern about the continued reports of imposing and carrying out the death penalty against individuals in Saudi Arabia in circumstances where the safeguards governing the death penalty in international law are ignored and called on Saudi Arabia to stop any step in Yousef's case, investigate all allegations of torture and retry him by international law, which preserves his rights from irreparable harm.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights believes that the message of the special rapporteurs shows Saudi Arabia's disregard for international laws and the obligations it made. The letter also shows that Saudi Arabia still insists on executing minors, in contradiction with official statements and promises, and violation of the juvenile law. The organization stresses that the monitoring of execution cases shows that Saudi Arabia is still threatening the lives of at least 6 minors with execution, while the information indicates that it is proceeding with punitive killing sentences that are not based on a legal text, which raises fears for the lives of many detainees who are facing charges related to demonstrating and exercising their rights.