SAUDI ARABIA: YOUNG MEN FACE IMMINENT EXECUTION DESPITE ASSURANCES ON RE-SENTENCING JUVENILES TO PRISON TERMS

October 11, 2022:

At least three young men in Saudi Arabia are at imminent risk of execution after an appeal court confirmed their sentences between June and October this year, Amnesty International said on 10 October 2022.
Following their grossly unfair trials, the organization is calling upon the Saudi authorities to commute the young men’s sentences as the world marks World Day Against the Death Penalty.
The young men at imminent risk of execution are Jalal al-Labbad, Abdullah al-Darazi and Abdullah al-Huwaiti.
In February 2022, the Saudi Human Rights Commission told Amnesty International that the country had halted executions of individuals for “crimes committed by minors” and said they had commuted all outstanding death sentences in such cases.
“Sentencing people to death for crimes that occurred when they were under the age of 18 is a clear violation of international human rights law. The Saudi Arabian authorities have promised to end the use of the death penalty in such cases, yet the brutal reality is that these young men are facing an abbreviated existence,” said Diana Semaan, Amnesty International’s Acting Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The King should not ratify these death sentences and should immediately halt all imminent executions and order re-trials that must be fully consistent with international fair trial standards, without recourse to the death penalty.”
Between June and October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) and another criminal court upheld the death sentence of three young men.
A Saudi Arabian appeal court upheld on 4 October the death sentence against Jalal al-Labbad, one of three young men in Saudi Arabia at imminent risk of execution. The trial of two others before the SCC continues as the prosecution demanded the death penalty. All five individuals were children between the ages of 14 and 18 at the time of their alleged crimes.
Four out of the five individuals are from the Shi’a minority. They have been convicted or accused of terrorism-related charges over their participation in anti-government protests or attending the funerals of those killed by security forces.