On June 27, Ranya Alammar on behalf of ADHRB delivered an oral intervention at the 32nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva under Item 6. Please continue reading for full remarks or click here to download a PDF.
الرجاء الضغط هنا لقراءة هذه الرسالة باللغة العربي
Mr. President,
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, is monitoring Saudi Arabia’s compliance with the UPR recommendations. After receiving 225 recommendations in its last UPR review in October 2013, Saudi Arabia said that there 88 recommendations were applied, without specifying these recommendations or clarifying their application standards. By monitoring the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, we do not see proof to support Saudi Arabia’s claim about the application of the recommendations. Adding to that the exclusion and suppression of civil society: such as the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the imprisonment of activists such as Dr. Mohammed al-Qahtani, the imprisonment of writers such as Zakaria Al Safwan and Zuhair Kutbi, and pledges and threats that target activists and dissidents. All this raises our constant doubts about the seriousness of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to its recommendations.
During the 31st session, on 2 March 2015, Saudi Arabia said that: (it appointed the task of implementing the recommendations accepted by the Kingdom during the second UPR cycle to relevant government agencies).
Although 151 recommendations were accepted entirely by Saudi Arabia and 36 were accepted partially, we see a deterioration of the situation in some area, unlike Saudi Arabia’s claims that most of the recommendations came into force.
Regarding (the death penalty), the number of those executed is on the rise since 2013. 409 individuals were killed from 2013 up until now, including minors executed on January 2, 2016. Those are: Meshal Al Faraj, Amin al-Ghamdi, Ali Al-Rebeh, and Chadian Mustafa. There are also nearly 8 minors currently on death row, including Mojtaba Suwaiket and Saeed Skafi, while Ali Al Nimr, Daoud Al Marhoon and Abdullah Zaher may be executed at any moment.
We call on Saudi Arabia to honor its commitment to the UPR recommendation by taking serious measures to apply these recommendations.
Thank you Mr. President
