The Twitter account of the Prisoners of Conscience organisation, which brings news of detainees in Saudi Arabia, revealed that 40 minors are currently facing the death penalty for participating in the 2011 Qatif protests, despite Riyadh’s pledge to stop executing minors.
يواجه 40 قاصراً تهديد حكم الإعدام بتهمة مشاركتهم في احتجاجات القطيف 2011.. في حين أن السلطات السعودية قدمت إلتزاماً بإيقاف عقوبة الإعدام ضد القصر.
— معتقلي الرأي (@m3takl) June 16, 2021
The relatives of the detainees called on the British Foreign Secretary to intervene urgently during his upcoming visit to Riyadh, in order to stop the application of the death penalty against minors.
Saudi national Abdullah al-Hawiti is facing death sentence in the kingdom and is scheduled to be executed, despite having been only 14 years old at the time of his alleged crime, Human Rights Watch said, describing his trial as a crime.
Amnesty International has furthermore condemned the recent execution of Mustafa bin Hashim bin Isa al-Darwish by the Saudi authorities despite appeals by several organizations to dissuade it.
In April 2020, the Kingdom announced that its courts would stop imposing the death penalty on persons convicted of crimes committed when they were under the age of 18, indicating that they would instead be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment in a juvenile prison. This promise has so far not been kept.
