Non-governmental organizations have sent a letter to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, about the worrying trends in the death penalty trajectory in Saudi Arabia.
The letter was signed by the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, Reprieve, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, ALQST for Human Rights, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and MENA for Human Rights.
The organisations indicated that since the beginning of 2022, the Saudi government has carried out at least 124 executions, including the largest mass execution of 81 people in March. The letter explained that due to opacity in the criminal justice system, the extent of due process violations is unknown in most cases and the number of child defendants who may have been executed in secret.
The letter confirmed that there are indications that the situation will get worse, as there has been a recent increase in the number of death sentences issued by the Court of First Instance and death sentences upheld by the Court of Appeal. Noting that despite the lack of transparency about the criminal justice system in Saudi Arabia, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) has monitored 42 cases of people at risk of the death penalty.
Consequently, the organizations expressed their concern that Saudi Arabia is planning to carry out a wave of executions, as, despite empty promises of reform, the human rights situation has worsened significantly.
The organisations indicated that in the past two weeks, Saudi Arabia has sentenced many child defendants to death, despite repeated promises to stop this punishment. The organizations indicated that Saudi Arabia executed Mustafaa-Darwish in 2021 when he was 17 years old. According to the monitoring of ESOHR, eight accused children are at risk of execution, including Abdullah al-Derazi, Youssef al-Manasif and Abdullah al-Huwaiti.
The letter confirmed that there are many at risk of execution on non-serious charges related to the exercise of their freedom of expression, among them the academic Hassan al-Maliki, who faces a possible death sentence on charges including “possession of books” not authorized by the competent authority in Saudi Arabia. The Public Prosecutor also demanded the execution of Salman al-Awda on charges including “ridiculing and mocking the government’s achievements.”
The organisations confirmed that, in addition to issuing death sentences, the nature and procedures of the Specialized Criminal Court are a source of great concern. Although the Saudi government claimed to set up the court to try so-called terrorism and state security crimes, it is used to prosecute and suppress individuals viewed as dissidents.
The letter expressed the organisations' deep concern about the fate of detainees at risk of the death penalty, saying that Saudi Arabia will continue to try to deceive the international community with empty promises and perverted tactics. However, the reality is that Saudi Arabia continues to violate international laws with impunity.
The organisations called on the High Commissioner to take the necessary steps to pressure Saudi Arabia to implement its obligations, including a moratorium on all executions.