By Raya Jalabi
DUBAI (Reuters) – Five people who have committed minor crimes in Saudi Arabia have yet to be sentenced to death, according to two rights groups, nine months after the kingdom’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) ended the death penalty for juvenile offenders. .
The state-sponsored HRC cited a royal decree from King Salman in April that stipulates that individuals sentenced to death for crimes committed while minors will no longer be executed and would rather serve up to ten years in prison in juvenile centers.
The statement did not specify a timeline, but in October, in response to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), it is said that the decision took effect immediately after announcement.
The decision was never reported in the state media and was not published in the official newspaper.
In December, the state news agency SPA published a list of prominent “events” of 2020 with several royal ordinances, but the death penalty order was not included.
Organizations, including the group against the death penalty, Reprieve, HRW and the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR), as well as a group of US lawmakers, have expressed concern that loopholes in Saudi law could still allow judges to carry out the death penalty to impose on juvenile offenders. .
One in five has appealed and eight are facing charges that could lead to execution, say the groups that are following the cases closely.
Reuters determined the status of three of the five individuals through HRC statements, but could not independently verify the other two.
The Government’s Center for International Communication (CIC) rejected the concerns and told Reuters that the royal decision would be applied retroactively to all cases where an individual was sentenced to death for offenses committed under the age of 18. committed.
“The Royal Order, issued in March 2020, was immediately put into effect upon its issuance and was distributed to the relevant authorities for immediate implementation,” the CIC said in an email.
ALL EYES ON RIYADH
Saudi Arabia, whose record of human rights worldwide came under scrutiny following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 by Saudi agents, is one of the world’s best executions to Iran and China, rights groups say.
His de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known internationally as MbS, has enjoyed strong support from US President Donald Trump.
But President-elect Joe Biden, who is taking over in the White House later this week, described the kingdom as a “pariah” for his justice record and said he would take a stricter line.
Six U.S. lawmakers wrote to the Saudi embassy in the United States in October urging the kingdom to review all ongoing death sentences to identify individuals convicted of crimes committed in their children.
One of the signatories, Democratic Representative Tom Malinowski, told Reuters in December that if the kingdom followed the execution of juvenile offenders, ‘it would be even harder for Saudi Arabia to return to the kind of relations he wants. have. with the United States. ‘
He added that Biden would look “very differently from Trump” at the kingdom’s human rights policy.
Biden officials declined to comment on this article, but referred Reuters to an earlier statement that the new government would re-evaluate US ties with Saudi Arabia.
SPECIAL FIGURES
Ali al-Nimr and Dawood al-Marhoun were 17 when they were detained in 2012 on charges related to participating in widespread protests in the Eastern Province of the Shiite majority. Abdullah al-Zaher was 15 when he was arrested.
The three, who are among the five juvenile offenders whose death sentences have yet to be recalled, were sentenced to death and beheaded by the Specialized Criminal Court, although the state prosecutor ordered their sentences reviewed in August.
The CIC said the royal decision would be applied to their cases.
They could not be immediately reached for comment.
In 2018, following the acceptance of his post in a palace coup that ousted the former crown prince, MbS undertook to minimize the use of the death penalty as part of comprehensive social reforms.
According to the rights groups, a record number of approximately 185 people were executed in 2019.
Reuters could not independently confirm the figures. The CIC does not comment on whether this figure is accurate.
In a press release on Monday, the HRC said that Saudi Arabia had reduced the number of executions in 2020 by 85% compared to the previous year, while noting that it had documented 27.
TEST CASE?
In an article published last April, Okaz, the state newspaper, confirmed the existence of the royal decision, but said that the abolition only applies to a minor category of offenses under Islamic law, known as ‘ta’. very ‘.
These crimes are not clearly defined in the Qur’an or the accompanying Hadiths, and therefore punishment is left to the discretion of judges, and this can amount to death.
Saudi Arabia has no civil criminal law setting out sentencing rules, and no system of judicial precedent that will make the outcome of cases more predictable based on past practice.
According to Saudi Arabia’s interpretation of sharia, judges could still sentence children to death under the other two categories: ‘retention’, or serious crimes carrying a prescribed punishment, including terrorism, and ‘qisas’, or retaliation, usually for murder , said two advocates and the rights groups.
On the question of why the royal decision was never published and whether it only applies to the category ‘ta’zeer’ of the offense, the CIC declined to comment.
Some accused in protests have been prosecuted on charges of terrorism.
In a case closely monitored by rights groups, 18-year-old Mohammad al-Faraj faced the death penalty, even though he was 15 at the time of his arrest in 2017 on charges of participating in protests and attending relatives. funerals, one when he was nine years old.
A source close to one of the accused in Faraj’s case said on January 18 that the claim for a ‘hold’ death sentence had recently been withdrawn and that prosecutors had rather asked for the most severe punishment under ‘ta’zeer’. .
The CIC said the royal decision would apply retroactively to Faraj’s case, a point the HRC reflected in its press release.
ESOHR expressed its concern that the risk of the death penalty without a published decision can not be ruled out.
ESOHR said that Faraj only got a state-appointed lawyer in October, that he was not brought before the court and that he was tortured in custody.
Since the start of the pandemic, Faraj has been allowed one weekly 15-minute call to his parents, canceled with personal visits, a family member said.
Reuters could not independently confirm the details of his case.
(Reporting by Raya Jalabi; Additional Reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington DC; Editing by Mike Collett-White)