Saudi Arabia persists in suppressing human rights advocates, usually by cruel treatment and wrongful detention, in spite of the world’s advances towards protecting human rights. Right Livelihood and its allies alerted the Council to the harsh anti-terrorism and cybercrime legislation in the nation, which are being utilised to suppress dissent and the inalienable right to peaceful protest.
Ending Saudi Arabia’s execution of child offenders
Waleed Abu al-Khair, the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, is presently serving a 15-year prison sentence. He has suffered abuse, torture, and cruel treatment as a result of these laws. A global alliance of human rights organisations expressed concern about the future of young men who are set to be executed soon in Saudi Arabia for crimes they may have committed as juveniles. The advocacy groups contended in an open letter that Saudi Arabia’s choice to proceed with the executions of multiple young men for offences committed when they were juveniles is in opposition to both international norms and the country’s intended reforms. The reality of Saudi Arabia’s repeated pledges about the death penalty in general and the death penalty against juveniles in particular is exposed by the approval of new death sentences against kids. Without promptly stopping arbitrary death sentences, particularly against juveniles on less serious accusations and following unfair trials, reforms or improvements are not even conceivable to imagine.
Halting Saudi Arabia’s executions of juvenile offenders
Two of these prisoners, Yousif Al-Manasif and Ali Al-Mubaiouq, had their death sentences upheld by the nation’s Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal (SCCA). The Saudi king will be given the death orders to sign when the Supreme Court renders its decision. According to human rights organisations, execution can take place at any time after then, and the exact moment is frequently unpredictable. The organisations also denounced the Saudi government for violating the human rights of juvenile inmates through enforced disappearance, solitary confinement for months, and various forms of torture. Only in August did Saudi Arabia carry out four executions a week on average; among them was the execution of a Pakistani man for heroin smuggling. International law forbids the death sentence for drug-related offences, which do not qualify as most serious crimes.
Calling for Saudi Arabia to cease executions of minors
In an attempt to improve their standing abroad, Saudi officials have promised in the past few years to abolish the death penalty for minors and nonviolent offences, but they haven’t followed through on their promises. Regretfully, the regime is targeting more Saudi Laureates than just Abu al-Khair. Since October 2022, fellow laureate Muhammad al-Qahtani has been detained without access to communication. His situation is a prime example of the concerning tendency of lengthening sentences or forcing activists who have been freed into enforced disappearance. More than 50 measures in favour of women have already been passed, according to the Saudi Arabian delegation at the kingdom’s first official assessment at the UN Human Rights Council since November 2018.
The delegation was informed that Saudi Arabia no longer uses flogging as a form of punishment, that judges are impartial, and that foreign labourers are now afforded greater legal protections. After a three and a half hour discussion, however, a broad range of countries called for more to be done. Germany’s representative, Kristina Huck, stated that while her country applauded Saudi Arabia for its “extensive efforts to improve women’s rights,” it also pointed out that there were “serious restrictions” on the freedoms of speech, assembly, and the press.
Pressuring Saudi Arabia to halt juvenile executions
Saudi Arabia has been pressed over and again to define terrorism in light of cybercrime laws that permit prosecution of state criticism. The United States was one of the few critics to specifically mention a claim made by Human Rights Watch the previous year regarding the killings at the border.
According to U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights Council Michèle Taylor, Saudi Arabia has been asked to “undertake a comprehensive, transparent investigation of all allegations that Saudi security forces are killing and abusing migrants crossing the Yemeni border, cease any abuses, ensure accountability for any abuses or violations, and issue a public investigation report.” In addition to endorsing the removal of the “remaining privileges of male guardianship that still impeded progress, empowerment, and equality of women,” Austria echoed American concerns on the murders of migrants.
Al Tuwaijri responded later, stating that Saudi officials collaborated with the International Organisation for Migration, which is headquartered in Geneva, UN, “to ensure proper monitoring of our borders and to ensure that the human rights of those crossing our borders are upheld.”