United Nations special rapporteurs have again called on Saudi Arabia to stop any step towards the execution of two young Bahrainis after their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court.
In a letter to the Saudi government on June 3, 2022, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial or summary executions, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism noted that the two young men, Sadiq Thamer and Jaafar Sultan might be executed in an instant.
The Special Rapporteurs indicated that they had written to the Saudi government in January 2022 about the issue. The letter referred to the information they received, including their arrest in May 2015 while entering Saudi Arabia from Bahrain. The information indicated that the two young men were subjected to incommunicado detention for several months and torture. They were also forced to sign confessions, and they did not obtain their right to communicate with a lawyer until after the trial sessions began.
The letter indicated that several charges were brought against Thamer and Sultan, including participating in the establishment of a terrorist cell, receiving training in foreign camps, smuggling explosive materials, and participating in the Bahrain demonstrations.
The rapporteurs made it clear that on October 7, 2021, Thamer and Sultan were sentenced to death before the Specialized Criminal Court. On January 11, 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict, and according to the information, the Supreme Court ratified the verdict in April 2022. Therefore, they might be executed at any moment.
The Special Rapporteurs noted the concerns that the provisions violate Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 2, 15 and 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Treatment ratified by Saudi Arabia in 1997. They considered that based on these violations, the execution of both Sultan and Thamer might constitute an execution arbitrarily.
The letter reiterated concern about the counter-terrorism law and its financing, which includes severe penalties incompatible with human rights. It also mentioned the concerns that the terrorism rapporteur had expressed in his report in 2018 after a field visit he had made, especially concerning a fair trial and the fact that torture is a systematic practice in Saudi Arabia. The letter indicated that the Anti-Terrorism and its Financing Law includes a wide range of severe penalties which are incompatible with human rights.
The Special Rapporteurs expressed concern that the Saudi government's response to the previous letter on the Thamer and Sultan case did not include whether an investigation had been carried out concerning allegations of torture and ill-treatment and emphasized that any allegations of torture should be investigated impartially and thoroughly by an independent body.
The Special Rapporteurs once again called on the Saudi government to stop any possible step towards implementing the death penalty, which is unredeemable harm, against Sultan and Thamer, to abolish the punishment imposed on them, investigate all allegations of torture and retry them per international law and standards. The Special Rapporteurs also reiterated their call for Saudi Arabia to consider an official suspension of all executions.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights believes that the Saudi government's responses to the letters of the special rapporteurs do not include precise information that responds to the concerns expressed by the rapporteurs regarding the integrity of the procedures. It clarifies that in most cases, Saudi Arabia repeats the existing legal articles without mentioning the ways and means of achieving them. The organization notes that Sadiq Thamer and Jaafar Sultan are still in danger of being killed at any moment. Therefore the failure to comply with the recommendations of the special rapporteurs, including stopping sentences and investigating torture, is clear evidence that official dealings with human rights bodies are propaganda and not serious.