Human rights groups have criticised Saudi Arabia for executing a man for alleged crimes committed as a minor, despite the kingdom’s assurance that it had abolished the death penalty for minors, according to the BBC.
Mustafa al-Darwish was arrested in 2015 and charged with trying to carry out an armed revolt. Saudi authorities say he was charged with forming a terror cell and trying to carry out an armed revolt.
But human rights groups, which had called for a stay of execution, said the trial had been unfair.
The man’s family reportedly learned of his execution in Dammam, a city in the oil-rich Eastern Province, online.
Amnesty International and Reprieve, an anti-death penalty charity, say 26-year-old al-Darwish had already recanted his confession, which was allegedly made after he was tortured. Saudi authorities have not publicly commented on the accusation.
The BBC said Reuters reported that al-Darwish’s charges included ‘seeking to disturb security by rioting’ and ‘sowing discord’, and that evidence against him included a picture ‘offensive to the security forces’, and his participation in over 10 ‘riot’ gatherings in 2011 and 2012.
According to state media, the Saudi interior ministry said al-Darwish had also attempted to kill local security forces, but court documents did not specify the dates of any of his offences, according to Reuters.
Last year, Saudi authorities said that they would no longer hand out death sentences to people who committed crimes while they were minors, and instead only apply a maximum 10-year jail sentence.
The royal decree said the new law would be applied retroactively to those awaiting execution.
Earlier this year, the Saudi Human Rights Commission said the kingdom had ‘drastically’ reduced the number of people it put to death in 2020.
However, Reprieve said Saudi Arabia had now executed the same number of people in the first half of 2021 as it did in the whole of 2020.
[Photo: BBC]