Abolishing the Death Penalty for Minors in Saudi Arabia

By: Alexandra Welke

Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people in 2019, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide.[1] According to Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization focused on human rights, 184 people were executed in 2019, the highest number Amnesty has ever recorded in a single year in Saudi Arabia.[2] In 2018, Amnesty reported that Saudi Arabia executed 149 people, most of them consisting of drug smugglers convicted of non-violent crimes.[3] In 2017, the country carried out 146 executions, and in 2016 the country killed 47 men in one single day.[4]

In 2019, the top five executing countries included China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Egypt.[5] Compared to other countries that continue to use the death penalty, Saudi Arabia is ranked third in highest number of executions.[6] Although the number of executions in these countries remains high, there is a global decrease in executions for the fourth consecutive year.[7] Clare Algar, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy and Policy, reported that countries have started to recognize that the death penalty is an abhorrent and inhuman punishment.[8] Algar reported that this has contributed to the reason why executions continue to fall worldwide.[9]

In April 2020, the Saudi Arabian authorities announced that the country will no longer use the death penalty against people who are below the age of 18 at the time of the committed crime.[10] Instead, the death penalty for minors will be replaced with a maximum punishment of ten years in prison.[11] According to information obtained by Amnesty International, this Royal Order excludes crimes under the counter-terror law.[12] This Order, announced by Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission, will eliminate capital punishment for certain childhood crimes with a retroactive effect.[13] However, the decree remains unpublished and juveniles on death row such as Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher have not been resentenced.[14] Because the authorities have not yet published the Royal Order, the implementation timeline and the impact of the regulation remains unclear.[15] Interestingly, Saudi Arabia executed only twenty-seven people in 2020, the lowest number since at least 2013.[16] However, this drop is not thought to be the result of the newly announced law, but rather the drop in executions appears to be partly linked to coronavirus lockdowns.[17] It remains unclear whether in the next year the new law will be published or if the execution rate will return to its normal high rate once the coronavirus is under control.[18]

Organizations, including anti-death penalty groups Reprieve, HRW, and the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights have raised concerns that loopholes in the new Saudi law could still allow judges to impose the death sentence on juvenile offenders.[19] Still, the new law appears to be favored by those who do not agree with the death penalty.[20] Those opposed to the death penalty claim the death penalty is the “ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment” and that Saudi Arabia’s record is particularly bad in this respect.[21]

Additionally, there are arguments that the death penalty might not deter crime. [22] Clare Algar from Amnesty International reported that there is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more than prisons terms.[23] In fact, in countries where the death penalty has been abolished, crime rates have often fallen.[24] Further, it has not been shown that sentencing people to death contributes to a safer or more secure society.[25] Others argue that sentencing people to death is a violation of the right to life, and that there is a high risk of killing innocent people.[26] It has been reported that the court proceedings in Saudi Arabia fall far short of international standards for fair trials. Specifically, defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by lawyers, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them.[27] One of the most striking failings in court proceedings, reported by Amnesty International, is the country’s strong reliance on torture-tainted “confessions.”[28] In recent years, at least twenty individuals tried by the Specialized Criminal Court have been sentenced to death because of such “confessions,” with seventeen of them already executed.[29]

It is apparent that Saudi Arabia does not provide a proper and just legal system for those who have been convicted and sentenced to death. Further, the uncertainty of the new law and whether it will be published means that minors on death row may still face execution in the coming months. It is clear that Saudi Arabia needs to provide better legal help to individuals on death row. Additionally, lawmakers should take a second look at the newly announced law so that it can be drafted in a way to avoid the loopholes that have been reported. While the new law may be a good start for young individuals, the country still has a long way to come with reforming its legal processes and procedures.

Picture Credit: Edarabia

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[1] Death penalty 2019: Saudi Arabia executed record number of people last year amid decline in global executions, Amnesty International (Apr. 21, 2020), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/04/death-penalty-2019-saudi-arabia-executed-record-number-of-people-last-year-amid-decline-in-global-executions/.

[2] Id.

[3] Tariq Tahir, Eye for an Eye Saudi Arabia executions, The Sun (Apr. 26, 2019), https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6980209/saudi-arabia-executions-eye-gouging-crucifixion/.

[4] Id.

[5] See Death penalty 2019: Saudi Arabia executed record number of people last year amid decline in global executions, supra note 1.

[6] Tahir, supra note 3.

[7] Death penalty 2019: Saudi Arabia executed record number of people last year amid decline in global executions, supra note 1.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Saudi Arabia: Death penalty reform for minors falls short, and total abolition must now follow, Amnesty International (Apr. 27, 2020), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/04/saudi-arabia-abolition-of-juvenile-death-penalty/.

[11] Id.

[12] Why it’s time for Saudi Arabia to abolish the death penalty, Amnesty International (Apr. 29, 2020), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/04/why-its-time-for-saudi-arabia-to-abolish-the-death-penalty/.

[13] Will Drop in Saudi Executions Last?, ESOHR (Jan. 19, 2021), https://www.esohr.org/en/?p=3220.

[14] Id.

[15] Kareem Fahim, Saudi Arabia says it executed 27 people in 2020, the lowest number in years, rights groups say, The Washington Post (Jan 18, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-arabia-death-penalty-executions/2021/01/18/1a98d694-5982-11eb-a849-6f9423a75ffd_story.html.

[16] Id.

[17] Id.

[18] See id.

[19] Reuters, Saudis vowed to stop executing minors; some death sentences remain, rights groups say, TOI (Jan. 18, 2021), https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/saudis-vowed-to-stop-executing-minors-some-death-sentences-remain-rights-groups-say/articleshow/80328666.cms.

[20] Saudi Arabia: Death penalty reform for minors falls short, and total abolition must now follow, supra note 10.

[21] Id.

[22] See id.

[23] Id.

[24] Id.

[25] Why it’s time for Saudi Arabia to abolish the death penalty, supra note 12.

[26] See id.

[27] Id.

[28] Will Drop in Saudi Executions Last, supra note 13.

[29] Why it’s time for Saudi Arabia to abolish the death penalty, supra note 12.