DUBAI, UAE – Three Saudi youths sentenced to death for minor offenses have been sentenced to 10 years in prison, the Saudi Commission said in a statement. human rights.
Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoun and Abdullah al-Zaher, young Shiite minorities in Saudi Arabia, have been detained separately on charges of participating in Shiite anti-government protests over discrimination that rocked the country’s eastern province. 2011-2012.
Al-Nimr, the nephew of prominent opposition cleric Shiekh Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution sparked Shiite demonstrations from Bahrain to Pakistan, was arrested in 2012 at the age of 17, according to Human Rights Watch. He was sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh, which deals with terrorism cases.
Al-Marhoun was 17 and al-Zaher was 15 when they were swept away in government crackdown on Shiite protests and denied lawyers access during their extended pretrial detention, the New York Guard previously reported.
The court will grant credit for the time allotted, the Saudi Human Rights Commission announced, setting the release date for all three men for 2022.
Mohammed, Al-Nimr’s father, welcomed the news on Twitter, describing the sentence change as a direct order from King Salman. The government communications office did not respond to a request for comment.
The move comes almost a year after Saudi Arabia ordered the end of the death penalty for juvenile delinquency, with the possible exception of terrorism-related offenses. The royal decree establishes a maximum sentence of 10 years in a juvenile detention unit for anyone convicted of a crime committed while a minor. It orders prosecutors to examine the cases and waive sentences for those who have already served that time.
Human rights groups that have long pressured the kingdom to abolish the death penalty, especially for juvenile delinquency, praised the decree, but expressed concern about its application.
“This is great news for Ali, who has spent more than nine years on death row,” said Reprieve, a civil rights group that opposes the death penalty. “But other young people like Ali are still facing the death penalty for childhood ‘crimes’ in Saudi Arabia. The royal decree must be applied urgently in these cases. ”
King Salman’s son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is the driving force behind the kingdom’s efforts to ease restrictions, modernize the country and move away from an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islamic law known as Wahhabism, which it still practices. many Saudis.
One of the world’s most prolific executioners, Saudi Arabia announced last month that executions have fallen by 85% in 2020 due to legal changes that stop death sentences for non-violent drug-related crimes. The kingdom also ordered judges to end the controversial practice of public whipping, replacing it with imprisonment, fines or community service.