Jan. 29
SAUDI ARABIA:
Follow U.N. Call to End Juvenile Death Penalty
Saudi Arabia must publicly commit to ending the execution of juvenile
offenders, as the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended on
Friday, Human Rights Watch said today. At least 126 individuals are on
death row in Saudi Arabia for crimes they were found to have committed
before age 18, the Saudi online news station alarabiya.net reported in
November 2005, citing government sources. Human Rights Watch has received
reliable reports of children sentenced to death for crimes committed when
they were as young as 13.
"Sentencing children to death disregards everything children's rights were
meant to protect," said Lois Whitman, director of the Children's Rights
Division at Human Rights Watch. "The Saudi government should immediately
commute all death sentences imposed on children."
The Committee on the Rights of the Child monitors implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and reviewed Saudi Arabia's
treatment of children on January 24-25, 2005. Using exceptionally strong
language, the committee faulted the Saudi government for its practice of
imposing the juvenile death penalty, calling it "a serious violation of
the fundamental rights" under the convention. The committee said it was
"deeply alarmed" over the discretionary power judges hold to treat
children as adults in cases involving capital punishment.
In its concluding observations the committee called on Saudi Arabia "to
immediately suspend the execution of all death penalties imposed on
persons for having committed a crime before the age of 18, to take the
appropriate legal measures to convert them to penalties in conformity with
the provisions of the Convention, and to abolish as a matter of the
highest priority the death penalty as a sentence imposed on persons for
having committed crimes before the age of 18."
Saudi Arabia had stated in its 2004 report to the committee that, under
the shari'a (Islamic law) in force in the kingdom, it "never imposes
capital punishment on persons who have not attained their majority" and
that Saudi Arabian law defines a juvenile "as every human being below the
age of 18." However, during questioning by the committee, the government
delegation acknowledged that a judge could impose the death penalty
whenever he decided that the convicted person had reached his or her
majority, regardless of the person's actual age at the time of the crime
or at the time of the scheduled execution.
"It appears that the Saudi government is not serious about honoring the
commitments it has made under international human rights treaties," said
Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division
at Human Rights Watch. "This shows the large gap between Saudi Arabia's
human rights obligations and its daily practice."
In September 2005, Human Rights Watch urged the Saudi government to
commute the death sentence of 14-year-old Ahmad D., sentenced to death in
July 2005 for killing another child when he was 13. The court in Dammam
tried Ahmad as an adult based on its assessment of the coarseness of his
voice and the appearance of pubic hair. The International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child
forbid imposing the death sentence for a crime committed by someone under
the age of 18.
The Saudi judicial system, moreover, does not afford children their basic
due process rights. Ahmad D. did not have a lawyer and he only confessed
under police questioning because "my strength dwindled and I lacked the
capacity to refuse," according to a Saudi press report in al-Yom
al-Elektroni. Ahmad was detained in solitary confinement during the
investigation and the court reportedly refused his father's request to
have a psychological examination determine his maturity.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child also expressed deep concern that
judges had discretion to impose corporal punishment against children. It
called on the government to "take all necessary steps for the immediate
abolition of extrajudicial and summary floggings of teenagers, and also
other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments imposed on persons
having committed a crime when under the age of 18 years, including acts of
police brutality." In addition, the committee recommended that Saudi
Arabia "strengthen its efforts to ensure that persons under 18 years of
age in conflict with the law have access to legal aid and independent and
effective complaints mechanisms."
Background
Saudi Arabia ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
in 1996 and considers it to be a valid source of domestic law. The treaty
prohibits capital punishment and sentences of life imprisonment without
possibility of release for persons under the age of 18 at the time of the
crime. It also guarantees children accused of a crime the right to legal
or other assistance in the preparation and presentation of their defense,
and the right not to be compelled to give testimony or to confess guilt.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child monitors implementation of the
CRC in periodic reviews and issues concluding observations describing its
findings and making recommendations for actions states should take to
fulfill their obligations under the treaty. It last reviewed Saudi
Arabia's treatment of children in January 2001.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
