On 18 September, at the 36th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Salma Moussawi delivered an oral intervention under the Item 3 General Debate. In the intervention, Moussawi raised concerns over the impending executions of seven minors in Saudi Arabia. She mentioned Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher, who have been at risk of imminent execution since 2014. She also raised the cases of Mujtaba al-Suwaikat, Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, Salman al-Quraish, and Abdullah al-Sareeh, who were sentenced to death more recently. Please continue reading for the full text of her intervention, or click here for a PDF of her intervention.
Mr. President,
Alsalam and ADHRB would like to thank the mandates of the Special Procedures, in particular the Rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions, freedom of assembly, and torture for their work.
In that regard, we would like to call attention to the ongoing issue of arbitrary executions in Saudi Arabia, particularly those of minors, for peaceful assembly, and after allegations of torture. We are particularly concerned with the cases of 7 minors who are at risk of imminent execution.
The Saudi government arrested Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher for crimes they allegedly committed as minors. They were sentenced to death in 2012 on charges stemming from their participation in peaceful protests. While in detention, Saudi authorities tortured them until they confessed before sentencing them to death in unfair trials. They have been at imminent risk of execution since 2014.
Mujtaba al-Suwaikat, Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, Salman al-Quraish, and Abdullah al-Sareeh are also at imminent risk of execution, some for crimes stemming from their participation in peaceful protests. While in detention, Saudi officials tortured them until they confessed, before sentencing them to death in deeply flawed trials.
We call on Saudi Arabia to uphold its commitments to all international covenants forbidding the execution of minors and for Saudi Arabia to respond to the complaints raised to them by the Special Procedures on these cases by dismissing the arbitrary charges against these young men, vacating their death sentences, and releasing them immediately.
Thank you.
