The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, Nazleh Ghania, has highlighted the overlaps between the right to freedom of religion and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
In a report published on the sidelines of the 58th session of the Human Rights Council, she noted that Saudi Arabia violates the rights of victims through several practices related to the death penalty. Based on communications and reports received by previous special rapporteurs, she explained that Saudi Arabia does not inform family members in advance of the execution and deliberately does not return the bodies to them.
One of the most pernicious forms of coercion is the disrespect of funeral rituals and the destruction of cemeteries. Disrespecting religious rituals associated with the dead and desecrating cemeteries, shrines and burial sites are discriminatory practices that often target members of religious minorities.
The rapporteur drew on a previous CAT report that emphasized that “States have a duty to return the bodies of the deceased to their families so that they can ”bury them in accordance with their religious traditions and customs.”
In addition, the report referred to a previous review of a case by the Human Rights Committee, in which it concluded that the secrecy about the date of execution and burial site, and the refusal to return the body, was intended to intimidate and punish the family by keeping them in a state of uncertainty and psychological distress, which constitutes inhuman treatment in violation of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The report concludes with a number of recommendations aimed at addressing the torture that occurs as a result of violations of the right to freedom of religion and belief.
ESOHR notes that it has monitored the widespread practice of denying the right to farewell and the right to burial by Saudi Arabia, documenting the detention of at least 148 bodies of victims of execution and extrajudicial killings, and the psychological torture suffered by families as a result of this practice