Total executions in Saudi Arabia 2010-2021 [photo credit: Reprieve]
The statistics are important, but it’s essential we don’t get lost in
them. People on death row have families who live in agonising fear, not
knowing when they will receive news of their loved ones’ death, if
indeed they hear at all.
One child defendant, Abdullah al-Derazi, was in a coma for two weeks
as a result of the torture inflicted upon him during his interrogation,
to force him to sign a confession. He could be executed at any moment.
Youssef al-Manasif was tied to a staircase in a police station and
kicked by passing officers. He is now on death row for allegedly
attending protests when he was a child. A third child defendant,
Abdullah al-Howaiti, was arrested and tortured when he was 14, and
forced to participate in his brother’s torture to coerce him into a
confession.
Gaslighting the international community
Saudi authorities have a history of gaslighting the international
community when it comes to their human rights abuses. In April 2020,
Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission had announced
a ‘Royal Decree’, supposedly to “abolish the use of the death penalty
for minors”. In October 2020, the SHRC issued a public statement on Twitter claiming, “no one in Saudi Arabia will be executed for a crime committed as a minor.” In February 2021, the Saudi officials reiterated to
the UNHRC that “anyone who commits a death eligible crime as a child"
will be subject to “a maximum sentence of 10 years in a juvenile
institution."
The Royal Decree has never been made public, abolishing the death
penalty for child defendants has not been implemented, and the Saudi
authorities continue to lie about it, including at the UNHRC during the adoption of Saudi Arabia’s Universal Periodic Review report.
In 2021, a year after Saudi Arabia repeated its commitment to the
UNHCR, Mustafa al-Darwish was executed for so-called “crimes” that took
place when he was just 17 years old. Detained for non-lethal protest
related offences, he was placed in solitary confinement and beaten until
he lost consciousness, then forced to sign a confession to make the
torture stop. His family received no notice before he was put to death.
On the morning of the UN Human Rights Council vote, Saudi Arabia once
again lied to the UN when it told the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women that it reserves the death penalty for the
most serious crimes.
It is worth noting that we have recently passed the six-year
anniversary of the torture and murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal
Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a heinous crime which US
intelligence has determined was approved by Mohammed bin Salman and
carried out by a team of 15 Saudi agents. The murder sent shockwaves
across the world and six years on it stands as a reminder that justice
is absent and impunity is rife in the kingdom.
The past few years have also been difficult for those of us who are
exiles trying to continue our work on these cases. Civil society is
shrinking and even those who are abroad are not safe. It’s more
difficult than ever to monitor the situation. Minors whose cases we
monitored closely have been executed, religious scholars and university
professors face the spectre of death and our friends are imprisoned for
their activism.
We hear promises from the Saudi Arabia authorities and talk of legal
reforms. We were optimistic when the Royal Decree was announced in 2020,
which was supposed to halt death sentences against minors, and when
Muhammad bin Salman committed to ending the death penalty for non-lethal
offences.
But in the end, all we have seen is increasing restrictions on
individuals. Families are prevented from communicating with us,
arbitrary sentences have been issued and death sentences given out to
political detainees, child defendants and others. Gathering information
and defending those sentenced to death is becoming more and more
difficult but more important than ever, as the government desperately
attempts to launder its image.
Since Saudi Arabia’s last bid to join the Human Rights Council four
years ago, there has been no progress on human rights violations. As
executions increase at an alarming rate, and blood continues to run
through the prisons, it is a small victory but victory nonetheless
that once again their bid has been turned away.
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