ESOHR: 53 people, including minors, facing death penalty in KSA

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies + Al Mayadeen Net
1 Nov 2022 09:04
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The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights warns that Saudi Arabian authorities have sentenced 53 individuals to death, including 8 minors.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's prison (archive)

The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (EOSHR) revealed that Saudi authorities have sentenced 15 political prisoners to death, bringing the number of people at risk of death to 53, including at least 8 minors.

The sentencing occurred despite the fact that experts at the United Nations called on KSA authorities in the recent period to immediately release Abdullah Al-Hwaiti.

Abdullah Al-Hwaiti was only 14 when he was arrested in 2017 on alleged charges of armed robbery and killing a police officer in KSA's northern Tabuk Province.

He was tortured and forced to confess to the alleged crimes although he had an alibi, and his family said that camera footage showed he was not at the crime scene.

Abdullah al-Howaiti has been sentenced to death for a second time. He was 14 years old when he was arrested and tortured into signing a false 'confession'.

His case exposes Saudi Arabia's claims to have ended the death penalty for children as a lie.https://t.co/OnZgColfbg
— Reprieve (@Reprieve) March 9, 2022

The organization warned that KSA authorities would be committing a new mass massacre if they go through with the executions.

According to Human Rights Watch, in October 2019, the criminal court in the northern Tabuk region sentenced Al-Hwaiti, who was 17 years old at the time, to charges of murder and armed robbery, along with five other defendants.

In April 2020, Riyadh announced it was ending the death penalty for those convicted of crimes committed while they were under 18.

But ALQST Organization for Supporting Human Rights said that since "the alleged offense took place when Howaiti was only 14," it showed the "Saudi authorities' continued application of the death penalty against minors."

It is noteworthy that Saudi Arabia has one of the world's highest execution rates, and had earlier in March carried out a mass execution, killing 81 people.