Saudi Arabia has announced it will no longer use the death penalty as punishment for crimes committed by minors. The news follows Amnesty International’s Death Penalty in 2019: Facts and figures report released on 21 April 2020, that found Saudi Arabia to be the world’s third most prolific executioner.
Despite an overall decline in the use of the death penalty worldwide, Saudi authorities put 187 people to death in 2019; according to the country’s official data. This is the highest number since 1995, when 195 people were executed. According to Amnesty International, at least one case in 2019 involved a man convicted of a crime committed as a minor.
In a statement made on Sunday 26 April, 2020, Awwad Alawwad, president of the state-backed Human Rights Commission, announced that the death penalty was being eliminated for those convicted of crimes committed whilst minors and “instead, the individual will receive a prison sentence of no longer than 10 years in a juvenile detention facility,”.
Mr. Alawwad went on to say:
“This reform is a momentous step forward in Saudi Arabia’s human rights agenda, and merely one of many recent reforms in the kingdom,”
The decree is expected to spare the lives of at least six men from the minority Shia community, who are on death row, and is the latest move by the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Prince, also known as MBS, is determined to change the country’s image from one of the world’s worst human rights abusers to that of a modernising regional force.
MBS has spearheaded efforts to open up the country to foreign investment by implementing measures such as abolishing the ban on women driving in 2017. In spite of this, his efforts have been widely undermined by his involvement in the 2018 killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. Parallel crackdowns on liberals, women’s rights activists, writers, moderate clerics and reformers have also served to undermine the Crown Prince’s efforts.
To add to this, the country’s most prominent human rights campaigner, Abdullah al-Hamid, died in jail earlier this week. The founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association died of a stroke, which fellow activists say was due to medical neglect by the authorities.
However, Mr Alawwad insisted that banning the execution of minors reaffirmed the country’s commitment to modernising, saying:
“The decree helps us in establishing a more modern penal code and demonstrates the kingdom’s commitment to following through on key reforms,”
On 25 April 2020 the kingdom said it would effectively ban the practice of flogging, replacing it with jail time, fines or community service. Banning the practice of flogging would subsequently bring one of the country’s most controversial forms of public punishment to a close.
Contrary to the country’s recent ban on flogging, a Saudi official announced that “hudud” or harsher punishment under Islamic law such as floggings are still applicable for the most serious offences. In addition, other forms of corporal and capital punishment, such as amputation for theft or beheading for murder and terrorism offences, have not yet been outlawed.
Response to the latest decree has been somewhat lukewarm, with activists meeting it with ”cautious optimism”. Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch said that dozens of people could potentially be taken off death row, but added it was difficult to determine if this new law would be applied retroactively to those who had committed crimes whilst still a minor.
Mr. Coogle added:
“I hesitate to give them too much praise but at the same time it’s a good step forward…This isn’t the completion of the justice sector reform, this is just the beginning. There’s a long way to go if this new decree sticks.”
Human rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the fairness of trials in the kingdom; an absolute monarchy governed under a strict form of Islamic law. However, this latest reform will bring them in line with their commitments as a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits capital punishment for crimes committed by those under the age of 18.
While efforts to redesign Saudi society can be commended, it still remains difficult for the international community to change its perception around Saudi’s poor human rights record. Until Saudi officials move to seriously reform its widespread use of capital punishment, as well as cease its other flagrant rights abuses, then the perception of the kingdom’s respect for human rights will largely remain unchanged.