SAUDI ARABIA REPORTEDLY PREPARING TO EXECUTE YOUNG MEN ON DEATH ROW

There are reports that Saudi Arabia may be about to execute nine young men convicted of crimes when they were still children.

If this is the case, then this represents a huge backwards step given that the regime have previously given assurances that they have put a more modern penal code in place and stopped executing those arrested as children.

Here is some background information about the nine prisoners reported to be at risk of execution:

Abdullah Al-Huweiti was arrested when a child of 14 and claims to have made confessions under conditions of torture.

Abdullah Al-Darzai was arrested at Tarut Police Station, then to the Dammam Investigation Department. Al-Darzai was subjected to enforced disappearance, as the family did not know his whereabouts for 3 months. He was subjected to beatings and burning, in addition to psychological torture.

Jalal Labbad was arrested on 23 February 2017, after security forces raided his family's home in Awamiya. The squad that carried out the raid did not show an arrest warrant, and he was not summoned beforehand.  Among other issues, he is charged with being at a demonstration and some of these charges date back to a period when he was a minor.

Youssef Al-Manasif was arrested on 6 April 2017 near the Qatif Court, in a violent manner that violates local regulations. Suddenly, Saudi security forces pointed their weapons at him and took him to prison, without presenting an arrest warrant or informing him of the reasons. He was then 20 years and six months old.

Hassan Zaki Al-Faraj was violently arrested from his home, where security forces shot and arrested him after beating him, along with two of his brothers. Hassan and his brothers were subjected to severe torture. His brothers were later released but he remains detained in the Dammam Investigation Prison.

Ali Jaafar Al Mabiouq was arrested on 29 January 2018, when he was 19 years and 5 months old. Upon his arrest, he was placed in the Dammam Investigation Prison. He was placed in the solitary cell, and subjected to torture and intimidation with the aim of signing the confessions.

Jawad Abdullah Qureiris was arrested from his home in a raid carried out by security forces that are likely affiliated with the Presidency of State Security, which was established in July 2017. In court in May 2022, Jawad confirmed that the confessions were extracted from him under torture.

Ali Hassan Al-Subaiti was arrested on October 23, 2017. He spent 9 months in solitary confinement during his interrogation. In October 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced him to death, on several charges that occurred when he was twelve years old.

What you can do:

Please message UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and ask him to remind the Saudi regime of their previous assurances that they would not execute those arrested as minors and to intervene to save these young men’s lives.

Please send protest messages about the reported threat to these nine people to:

James Cleverley and to Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon 

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