The Supreme Court and Riyadh and the Specialized Court of
Appeals upheld the death sentences against a number of citizens
from Qatif, Al-Ahsa and Madinah AlMonawara in Saudi Arabia on
the grounds of their conviction on political and malicious charges,
bringing the total death sentences imminent to execution during
these days to 36 death sentences against Shi'a citizens.
In contrast, the three signatory human rights organizations
condemn the issuance of these judgments under trials not in
conformity with international standards for fair trials, which target
not only human rights activists and opponents, but also a specific
religious nature. That is in the continuation of the systematic
punishment policy practiced by the Saudi authorities against
citizens belonging to certain regions on basis of reform demands
and as an instrument of persecution and political revenge.
The signatories condemn in the strongest terms the continued use
of the non-independent judiciary in Saudi Arabia for political and
reprisal purposes and the manipulation of the right to life through
the standardization and implementation of the death penalty,
despite claims by international human rights organizations that
such punishment should be suspended for the cases related to
freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
The signatory organizations also recall that most of the
confessions on which the Saudi authorities base their unjustified
death sentences upon are extracted under coercive conditions and
under torture, including severe beatings, humiliating practices that
degrades human dignity as well as prolonged incommunicado
detention. Saudi Arabia's policy of turning a blind eye to the
perpetration of its human rights abuses is due to the lack of
international pressuring will.
As a result, we call on human rights organizations to freeze Saudi
Arabia's membership in the Human Rights Council for the
authorities' persistence in their transgressions and their
implementation of the death penalty for retaliation in flagrant
violation of the international human rights laws.
The signatories:
1. Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights
2. SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights
3. Bahrain Forum for Human Rights.
