Saudi Arabia’s Continued Use of the Death Penalty on Minors: Unveiling Legal Loopholes and Human Rights Violations

In April 2024, the Court of Appeal in Saudi Arabia approved two death sentences for Yousif Al-Manasif and Ali Al-Mubaiouq, both Saudi nationals, who were accused of protest-related crimes allegedly committed as children. The two men were arrested between April 2017 and January 2018 for protesting against the government and ‘betraying the homeland’, a time[…]

Profile in Persecution: Ali Mahmood Mahmood (AlKahraba’ii)

Ali Mahmood Mahmood (AlKahraba’ii) was a 15-year-old Bahraini school student and minor when Bahraini authorities arrested him from his grandfather’s house on 16 January 2019 without presenting an arrest warrant. During detention, he endured torture, enforced disappearance, denial of access to legal counsel, unfair trial based on confessions extracted under torture, and sectarian-based insults. Ali[…]

Profiles in Persecution: Ahmed and Mahmood Mohamed Habib

Twin brothers Ahmed and Mahmood Mohamed Habib were 17-year-old minor students when Bahraini authorities arrested them along with some of their friends on 1 July 2015 while they were eating Suhoor during the month of Ramadan. During their detention, they were subjected to enforced disappearance, torture, sexual harassment, sectarian-based insults, and unfair trials based on[…]

Escalating concerns over the lives of minors threatened with death in Saudi Arabia

The undersigned organizations express their grave concern for the lives of minor defendants particularly the two young men, Yousif Al-Manasif and Ali Al-Mubaiouq, who are at imminent risk of execution in Saudi Arabia following confirmed information that the Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal (SCCA) has upheld their death sentences. Their cases were therefore referred to[…]

Analyzing the Leaked Penal Code of Saudi Arabia: Persistent Failure to Commit to Human Rights Standards

The draft of Saudi Arabia’s first penal code was leaked in July 2022. The text has been the subject of various allegations, which Saudi Arabia promptly denied. However, Amnesty International, which first denounced the code’s flaws, ensures that several Saudi legal experts have confirmed its authenticity. More recently, Amnesty International shared its analysis of the[…]