Ali Al Nimr was released from prison on October 27, 2021, after spending 10 years there. Ali al-Nimr, along with Daoud al-Marhoun and Abdullah al-Zaher, were arrested in 2012 and faced charges date back to when they were minors, including participating in demonstrations. After an unfair trial, they were sentenced to death. These cases were widely covered and the Saudi government received harsh criticism. In April 2020 a royal order was issued confirming the implementation of the juvenile law which prohibits the execution of minors. In February 2021, al-Nimr was sentenced to a new 10-year prison sentence, the maximum sentence in the juvenile law. After his release, Abdullah al-Zaher is supposed to be released after 18 days, and Daoud al-Marhoun after four months, as it has been 10 years since their arrest.
The Saudi government has taken advantage of the changing of sentencing in the case of al-Nimr and his companions to publicize that it has completely suspended the Tazir death sentences against the minors, but in fact it is still threatening the lives of other minors, including Hassan Zaki al-Faraj, Yousef al-Mansaf, Jalal al-Labad, Sajjad al-Yasin, and Abdullah al-Huweiti, who are facing a final sentence whose cases have not been monitored by the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights due to the lack of transparency and intimidation by the Saudi government against families and manipulation of some cases.
Months after it announced a change in the Al-Nemer sentence, in June 2021 the Saudi government executed the minor Mustafa al-Darwish, facing criticism for being misleading and dishonest, although official documents including the ruling instrument confirms that among his charges which date to when he was a minor.
In addition to the execution of Al-Darwish and circumvention, fears are being raised that the Saudi government will continue to kill minors in light of previous systematic practices. In previous years, Saudi Arabia reiterated in international forums that it does not execute minors, killing at least 12 minors during the years of King Salman's rule, and then later acknowledging carrying out executions to promote its change of the laws.
In January 2016, Mustafa Abkr, Mishaal Al-Faraj, Amin Al-Ghamidi and Ali Al-Rabah were executed in mass execution. In April 2019, minors Saeed Al-Sakafi, Mujtaba Al-Suwaykt, Salman Al-Quraish, Abdul Aziz Al-Suhawi, Abdul Karim Hawaj and Abdul Muhsin Al-Ghamidi were executed which the Saudi government continues to hold their bodies.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights confirms that the implementation of the ban on minors' execution is ineffective, without it being comprehensive and that it guarantees that ages and charges are not manipulated. In addition to the death penalty, the Saudi government continues to violate its promoted juvenile law, where minors are sentenced to more than the 10-year maximum established by the law. Among them are Mujtaba al-Safwani, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison, and Hassan Abd al-Wahab al-Jazair, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Unfair trials of minors also continue. After the public prosecution dropped the death requests for Mohamed al-Faraj, Ahmed Abdelwahed al-Faraj, Ali al-Bati and Ali Hassan al-Faraj, they are still on trial without investigating allegations of torture and with fears of harsh sentences.
ESOHR believes that the lives of minors in Saudi Arabia are still in danger, with death penalties and harsh sentences. It emphasizes that the facts show that Saudi promises to develop human rights and reduce the death penalty are nothing more than official propaganda that does not protect rights or individuals' lives. It also considers that it is important to be aware of the horrific violations that continue in Saudi Arabia, especially the killing and torture of children and adults and the persecution of women, which it always try to cover and divert attention from with various moves, the most recent of which is the purchase of the British Newcastle Club and the use of sports to wash its continuous black record.