Saudi Arabia to execute Shia men for “arbitrary” charges, says UN

Saudi Arabia has plans to execute five young Saudi Arabian Shia men and a Shia businessman on charges the United Nations has called “arbitrary,” the Middle East Eye reported on February 5th.

Campaigners and legal experts have also condemned the executions, saying the country’s plans are racially motivated.

The five young men, Abdullah al-Derazi, Jalal al-Labbad, Yusuf Muhammad Mahdi al-Manasif, Jawad Abdullah Qureiris and Hassan Zaki al-Faraj, took part in peaceful protests during 2011 and 2012 at al-Qatif, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. At the time of their arrest, the young men were minors.

The six men have since been sentenced to death and could face execution at any given time.

The youngsters also went to the funerals of Shia citizens who were killed by Saudi Security forces or police for taking part in similar demonstrations.

On December 18th, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, an arm of the UN made up of independent human rights experts, found there was no legal basis for the arrest of the five men or the death penalty charge. The Working Group concluded that the incarceration of the men was related to them belonging to a Shia minority. The group also added that the men did not receive a fair trial.

As reported by Foreign Policy, while Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, has pledged to reform the nation with forced-pace modernisation and return to “moderate Islam,” Saudi Arabia is still being criticised for treating its Shia population as second-class citizens and using propaganda to promote anti-Shiite beliefs.

Records from the Death Penalty Information Centre found that Saudi Arabia executed 172 people in 2023.

In 2023, Human Rights Watch reported that two Shia men were executed after what Amnesty International described as a “grossly unfair trial.” In 2019, 37 citizens were beheaded by the kingdom for alleged crimes related to terrorism, according to VOA via AP – most of which, were Shiites.

Middle East Eye, Foreign Policy, VOA via AP, Human Rights Watch, Death Penalty Information Centre