United Nations experts ask Saudi Arabia about death sentences against minors and its body withholding policy

United Nations experts confirmed that any execution that Saudi Arabia may carry out in violation of international laws, including the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is arbitrary and illegal, and called on it to stop all death sentences against individuals facing charges that occurred before they reached the age of 18.

The letter, sent on 16 February 2023, was signed by the Special Rapporteur on Executions, Maurice Tidbal Baines, Vice-Chair of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Mumba Malila, the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and lawyers Margaret Satterthwaite, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights in the face of Terror in Fionnuala Ni Olin.

The letter mentioned 7 minors' cases without disclosing their names:

The first minor: On May 8, 2017, he was arrested, fourteen years old and accused of shooting a police officer during a jewellery store robbery. He was tortured and forced to give his confession and sentenced to death on October 30, 2019. On November 10, 2021, the Supreme Court overturned the sentence, returning the case to the Court of First Instance. On March 2, 2022, it sentenced him again to death.

The second minor: On August 27, 2014, he was arrested in the street without an arrest warrant. He was taken to Tarout Police Station and then to the Dammam Investigation Department. The family was informed of his whereabouts three months after his arrest, during which time he could not communicate with anyone. The family visited him in January 2015, after he had been held in solitary confinement for nearly six months. He was tortured physically and psychologically. The torture caused burns around the eye, a broken tooth, and a knee injury, which led to his repeated transfers to the hospital. In August 2017, he was charged with several charges, including participating in demonstrations, marches and funerals, forming a terrorist cell, and assaulting public property. Many of the charges against him relate to crimes he allegedly committed under 18.

He could not contact a lawyer until after the trial began. He told the court that he was tortured and forced to sign confessions, and he also requested a medical report. Despite this, there was no investigation into torture allegations, and in August 2018, he was sentenced to death.

The third minor: On February 23, 2017, he was arrested without a warrant after security forces raided his family’s home in Awamiya. He was held in solitary confinement for nearly nine and a half months. He was tortured and ill-treated, forced to confess and denied access to a lawyer. He was transferred to the hospital several times due to fainting. The torture led to continuous suffering from low blood pressure, a weak heartbeat, and severe swelling in his right thigh. In July 2019, after two years and five months of detention, he was brought before the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh on various charges, including participating in demonstrations when he was 15 years old, and on October 4, 2022, he was sentenced to death.

The fourth minor: On November 28, 2017, he was arrested with his two brothers from their home, where he was beaten and shot. He was held in solitary confinement for nearly 3 months, where he was subjected to beatings and electric shocks, which led to his transfer to the hospital several times. He was forced to sign a confession and in 2020 was sentenced to death.

Fifth minor: On April 6, 2017, he was arrested near the court in Qatif without a warrant. He was held in solitary confinement and unable to see his family for five months. He signed coerced confessions that were later used in court as evidence against him. During his detention, he was tortured psychologically. He faced charges related to crimes he allegedly committed when he was less than eighteen years old, including participating in the funerals of individuals shot dead by security forces, chanting and raising anti-state slogans, seeking to destabilize the social fabric and national cohesion, participating in and instigating sit-ins, demonstrations and gatherings, and joining a terrorist cell, monitoring and shooting security men, selling narcotic pills, covering up wanted persons, and financing terrorism. During the trial, he confirmed to the judge that he was forced to sign the confession. However, based on these confessions, he was sentenced to death on October 16, 2022.

Sixth minor: On January 1, 2021, he was arrested from his home after security forces raided him. He was held for 270 days in solitary confinement, where he was tortured physically and psychologically and forced to confess to the crimes attributed to him. He was denied access to a lawyer and family visits. In May 2022, he was brought to trial before the Specialized Criminal Court on various charges. These charges included following Facebook pages, communicating with a security wanted person, training in weapons use, and shooting and burning pipelines. He was under 18 at the time of many of the alleged charges. During the trial, his lawyer was denied access to all the evidence against him. He informed the court that he had been tortured and forced to confess. Despite this, on October 13, 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced him to death.

The seventh minor: On October 23, 2017, he was arrested and placed in solitary confinement for nearly nine months. He was brought to trial before the Specialized Criminal Court on charges including joining a terrorist organization, shooting, monitoring security forces, participating in protests, seeking to destabilize the social fabric by participating in sit-ins and demonstrations, covering up the sale of weapons, participating in the transfer of prohibited materials, and using social media to communicate with wanted men. Some of the charges he is alleged to have committed occurred while he was under eighteen. In October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court issued a death sentence.

Bodies after execution:

The Special Rapporteurs indicated that information confirmed that Saudi Arabia currently holds 132 bodies of killed individuals, including minors.

The Special Rapporteurs expressed their deep concern about the death penalty imposition in the cases mentioned above:

They indicated that international law prohibits the death penalty for crimes committed by persons under the age of eighteen, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Saudi Arabia ratified in 1996, and called on them to re-try them in a manner that guarantees full compliance with the law, including guaranteeing the right to immediate access to legal aid and the right to a fair trial.

-They recalled the absolute prohibition of torture under the Convention Against Torture, which Saudi Arabia acceded to in 1997.

- They expressed concern about the very broad definition of terrorism contained in the Anti-Terrorism Law, along with the vague use of the death penalty, and urged the Saudi government to review the law to ensure its compatibility with international human rights laws.

- The rapporteurs stressed that any death sentence in contravention of international law obligations is equivalent to arbitrary execution and therefore illegal.

- They recommended that all current cases in which detainees face execution be reviewed to ensure minimum international standards are met in each case.

- Concerning allegations relating to the treatment of dead bodies after execution, including the bodies of persons under the age of 18, they stressed that the indescribable anguish and acute mental distress caused by the conditions of execution should not be compounded by the lack of information on the whereabouts of the body of the convict, and considered that unjustly harming the families of those executed is an unwarranted and useless pain.

- Call on Saudi Arabia to ensure that the bodies of all persons subjected to the death penalty are returned to their families without delay and that relatives are provided with comprehensive and adequate official information on executions.

- The Special Rapporteurs called on Saudi Arabia to answer some questions and provide information about the legal status of the detainees. They also called on Saudi Arabia to implement international obligations. They stressed that pending a response, Saudi Arabia should take all necessary temporary measures to stop the alleged violations and prevent their recurrence. In addition, Saudi Arabia should support the necessary investigations to hold all those responsible for the violations accountable.

The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights confirms that, according to its monitoring of execution cases, at least 9 minors are facing the death penalty after trials that lacked the conditions of justice, and they are Abdullah al-Hwaiti, Abdullah al-Derazi, Jalal al-Bad, Youssef al-Manasef, Ali al-Mabiyouq, Hassan Zaki al-Faraj, Ali Hassan al-Sbeity, Jawad Qureiris, and Mahdi al-Mohsen.

ESOHR notes that although Saudi Arabia responded to the letter, and the response is still in translation, it is expected that the response will repeat what the Saudi government has always mentioned in the past, as courts in Saudi Arabia have ratified dozens of death sentences, including those affecting minors in March 2023, so authentication took place after the complaint was received. ESOHR believes that this increases fear for the lives of the detainees in light of the complete disregard for international obligations, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention against Torture, as well as the views and demands of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs.

ESOHR also points out that Saudi Arabia deliberately misleads the international community and its human rights mechanisms. Despite its claim of cooperation with these mechanisms, it repeatedly disregards them blatantly:

- On March 12, 2023, Saudi Arabia executed the Jordanian detainee, Hussein Abu al-Khair. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention confirmed his detention was illegal and demanded his release.

- On June 16, 2021, Saudi Arabia executed the minor, Mustafa al-Darwish, days after the Special Rapporteurs sent a letter a few days ago demanding that it stop the execution process pending an investigation into the violations he was subjected to, including torture.

- On March 12, 2022, Saudi Arabia executed the two young men, Muhammad al-Shakhouri and Asaad Shubar, even though it had received a letter in August 2021 in which special rapporteurs demanded that Saudi Arabia stop their execution because of the violations they were subjected to.

- On April 23, 2019, as part of a mass execution of 37 citizens, the Saudi government carried out the death penalty against Haider al-Leif, despite its previous assurance to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs in December 2017 that the death sentence had been overturned, and that the final sentence issued against him was eight years imprisonment.

- In addition, Saudi Arabia ignored many public statements and private messages regarding executions. This included a statement on March 15, 2018, calling for a stay of death sentences against Abbas al-Hassan and others accused of spying for Iran, and private messages from the Special Rapporteurs regarding demonstrators and minors.

Pending translation of the official response, the course of the Saudi government's dealings with international human rights mechanisms does not foretell any change in the cases of the seven minors mentioned in the last letter, and this raises serious concern for their lives.

EN