In what can only be described as a state killing spree, on the 23rd of April 2019, Saudi Arabia violently and secretly executed 37 individuals en masse, at least six of whom were minors: Mohammad Saeed Al-Skafi, Salman Amin Al-Koraysh, Mojtaba Al-Sowaiket, Abdullah Salman Al-Soraih, Abdulaziz Hassan Al-Sahwi and Abdulkarim Al-Hawaj.
The placard, for an Indonesian victim, reads ” Stop the Death Penalty”.
The families of these minors were traumatized by the news as they were not informed and had no knowledge of the impending executions, thus depriving them of a chance to say last goodbyes. The family members only came to know of the executions once it had been officially announced via official state media outlets.
The absolute prohibition of the imposition of a death sentence against minors is enshrined in international law. The term minor relates to those under the age of 18 at the time of alleged offense. Of these six executed minors, some were arrested at an age of less than 18 years old, and some were arrested over the age of 18, but regardless, all faced charges related to alleged ‘crimes’ conducted when they were less than 18 years of age, which makes them a protected category in relation of capital punishment.
On the basis of this absolute prohibition, no minor should face a capital trial. However, in the case of these minors they faced grossly unfair capital trials at the Specialized Criminal Court, a court notorious for the use of torture-based confessions and grossly unfair trial.
Being a minor in Saudi Arabia does not protect you from torture. Of those executed, all were subjected to the following forms of torture and ill treatment:
– Mujtaba Al-Sowaiket: Solitary confinement, hung from hands, beaten with wires and hoses, cigarette burns on different parts of his body, beating him and slapping him with shoes on head and face, and leaving him in a cold solitary cell in the winter, nudity.
AMNESTY LINKS KILLINGS TO PROTESTS BY SHIA MINORITY
Amnesty International released a statement on Wednesday to say Saudi Arabia killed the men to crush dissenting voices from its minority Shi’a population. “Today’s mass execution is a chilling demonstration of the Saudi Arabian authorities callous disregard for human life,” said Lynn Maalouf, the group’s Middle East Research Director. The men executed were subjected to unfair mass trials, Amnesty said, or were convicted of violent offenses related to their participation in anti-government protests
.– Abdulkarim Al-Hawaj: Solitary confinement for five months, beaten with sticks and electric wires, kicked with heavy shoes, electrocuted, hands tied above him for over 12 hours, verbal insults and threats.
-Salman AlKoraysh – Solitary confinement for three months, beating with thick plastic, metal, or rubber hoses, high voltage electric shocks, force-feeding hallucinogenic pills.
Trump has overruled Congress vote to stop war on Yemen, taking personal responsibility for genocide and starvation
This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has executed minors. In 2016 during a mass execution of 47 individuals, four minors were among those executed including peaceful protestor Ali Al Rebh, who was also convicted on torture-based confessions.
The execution of minors, who are afforded a special protection under international law, shows Saudi Arabia has blatant disregard for its international obligations. As a member of UN human rights council and a state party to the convention on the Rights of the Child, Saudi Arabia has very clear responsibilities towards minors, but instead uses these affiliations for the purpose of public relations, and continues to use capital punishment as a tool of terror against minors and others alike.
- Some of the 37 men executed by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday claimed before they were killed that they had been forced to confess by their torturers, documents seen by CNN show.
- During their trials in 2016, some of the men — who were killed for terrorist offences — said their confessions were written for them by officials.
- They also claimed their fingerprints were taken and used as proof their confessions were genuine, CNN said.
- According to CNN’s report, one of those executed, 27-year-old Munir al-Adam, told the judge at his trial: “I didn’t write a letter. This is defamation written by the interrogator with his own hand.”
- Saudi Arabia is on track to set a new record for the number of executions carried out in a single year in 2019. It has killed 90 people already this year, and looks set to exceed the 158 people executed in 2015 …………………..INSIDER REPORT
In its concluding report on Saudi Arabia, the Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Saudi Arabia to immediately stop the executions of the individuals who were less than eighteen years when they committed the alleged crime, including Salman Al-Koraysh, Mujatba Al-Suwaiket and Abdulkareem Al-Hawaj, whom were amidst the most recent mass execution spree. By executing these individuals, Saudi Arabia has ignored explicit recommendations against the imposition of capital punishment against these minors.
It is noteworthy that all the of these minors were from Eastern Province, which is predominately Shia, and this discriminatory pattern in arrests and death sentences has been noted in the 2018 report by former special rapporteur Ben Emmerson.
ESOHR highlights that Muhammad Bin Salman’s recent promise to reduce the death penalty is a total fabrication which was said only as a public relations stunt. In light of Saudi Arabia’s flagrant disregard for its obligation towards the protection of children, ESOHR calls for an urgent review of Saudi Arabia’s membership at the UN Human Rights Council and committees.
According to ESOHR, dozens of individuals, including minors, remain at imminent risk of execution. ESOHR is deeply concerned about these individuals and calls upon the International Community to take immediate actions to first, strongly condemn this mass execution and secondly, protect those at risk from imminent execution by applying pressure on Saudi Arabia to stop execution on the basis of unfair trials.
Sent to us by the European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights – Aiming to strengthen the commitment of human rights principles in Saudi Arabiaتهدف المنظمة تعزيز الإلتزام بمبادئ حقوق الإنسان في المملكة العربية السعود
Read more: Saudi Arabia runs a huge, sinister online database of women that men use to track them and stop them from running away
terrorist organization and sent to Mus E Type Closed Prison.
July 20, 2015, Suruç: 34 Kurdish humanitarian volunteers were killed and about 100 injured in a suicide bombing in the predominantly-Kurdish town of Suruç near the border with Syria. Turkish officials blamed ISIS. But instead of cracking down on ISIS which at the time was covertly sponsored in Turkey, they immediately began a blitzkrieg persecution of the Kurds themselves who were the victims, resulting in the end of the ceasefire (and the whole Peace Process initiated and maintained by the imprisoned Kurdish leader Ocalan) and unleashing the wave of Turkish nationalism that boosted Erdogan’s march to supreme dictator. ISIS never claimed the attack.
part of its “maximum pressure” campaign that aims to eliminate Iran’s oil export revenue, which the US says funds destabilising activity throughout the region and beyond.
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with thanks
and that the solution lies in her death and the death of her daughter.
Simon’s documentary No Lullaby (Nirgendland). This film also tells the tragic tale of repeated incestuous rapes through two generations of women. I feel a strong connection with the director’s approach to the issue. The emotion created by Simon’s description of these harsh facts is emphasised by her own neutral stance and her use of daily life sequences as soothing intermissions.
The Free 
