According to the latest update issued by the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) on the cases of those condemned to death in Saudi Arabia, 55 prisoners are facing death sentences. The vast majority of them were not convicted with charges that are classified as serious crimes. The Organization also observed that some of them were subjected to systematic torture, and others were sentenced to death on several charges including protesting, throwing Molotov cocktails, and expressing opinions which are contrary to the official ideology.
Among the fifty five detainees, whether those sentenced to death or those whom the public prosecutor has called for death sentences and are still waiting their trials to end, four have been arrested while they were still minors, and eight have been arrested while their ages were between 18 and 20 years. They were convicted with charges committed when they were under 18 years old, which means that they are classified as Juveniles.
According to their cases, they can be classified into five groups as follows:
· 3 detainees, the death sentences issued against them are final and the King has approved their execution: Ali Al-Mimr, Dawood Al-Marhoon and Abdulah Al-Zaher. They are all minors.
· 7 detainees, the death sentences issued against them by the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) are initial: Haidar Al-Leef, Yousuf Ali Al-Meshikhes, Amjad Al-Moaibed, Ahmad Ali Al-Kamal, Samir Al-Basri, Hussein Abou Al-Kheir, and Hussein Ali Al-Batti.
· 43 detainees are still waiting their trials to end by the SCC and the public prosecutor has called for death sentences: Hussein Al-Haddad, Hasan Al-Alaweh, Abdullah Hani Al-Tarif Mohammed Mansour Al-Naser, Mustafa Ahmed Darwich, Fadel Hassan Labbad, Saeed Mohammed As-Skafai, Salman Amin Al-Quraish, Mojtaba Nader As-Suwaiket, Munir Abdullah Al- Adam, Abdullah Salman Al-Sarih, Ahmed Faisal Al-Darwich, Mohammed Khalil Al-Shkak, Abdul-Aziz Hassan Al-Sahwi, Ahmed Hasan Al-Rabih, Hussein Hassan Al-Rabih, Hussein Mohammed Al-Muslim, Hassan Abdul-Wahhab Al-Jazir, Salim Abdullah Al-Amri, Sheikh Mohammed Abdul Ghani Attieh, Mohammed Hussein Al-Ashour, Sheikh Badr Al-Hilal Al-Talib, Hussein Ali Al-Hamidi, Hussein Qasim Al-Al-Aboud, Tahir Muslim Al-Harbi, Ali Hussein Al-Ashour, Ali Hussein Al-Muhanna, Professor Dr. Ali Abdullah Al-Hajji, Sheikh Abdul Jalil Ali Al-Aithan, Ahmmed Ali Al-Nassir, Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Khamis, Dr. Abbas Abdullah Al-Abed, Ibrahim Ali Al-Hamaidi, Talib Muslim Al-Harbi, Yassine Saleh Al-Harbi, Yousuf Abdullah Al-Harbi, Samir Halil Al-Harbi, Abdul Ghafour Mohammed Hazara, Abbas Hajji Al-Hasan, Ahmad Abdul Aziz Al-Nakhli, Alawih Mousa Al-Hussein, Ahmad Gharama Al-Ghamidi, Ali Daifallah Al-Awaji.
· 2 detainees, the death sentences against them have been issued initially, whereas the Saudi court revoked the sentences and new sentences have been issued for them while the cases are still in the court of appeal: Ashraf Fayadh and Ahmad Freeh Radhi Al-Shammri.
The court lacked many of the fundamentals of fair trials, whether with regard to the previous stages of trials or during trial. Most prisoners did not get access to lawyers before trials and many trials were postponed for years, while other prisoners were subjected to severe torture.
There are grave concerns over their fate, especially after the Saudi government executed 47 prisoners in January 2, 2016, including the Human right defender, Sheik Nimr Al-Nimr and other young people who were minors when arrested: Ali Al-Rubeh Meshaal Hammoud Al-Faraj, Amine Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, and Mustapha Abkar, and those accused of protesting: Mohammed Al-Shioukh, and Mohammed Al-Suweimel who has not been proven guilty of any serious crime.
ESOHR considers probable that there are some other prisoners whose names were unrevealed due to the state of fear and intimidation practiced by the Saudi Authorities against their families and lawyers.