News - Middle East: The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights was able to monitor a number of cases in which detainees face the death penalty.

According to these statistics, 30 detainees face death sentences. Among them are those facing charges related to expressing opinion and demonstrating, and 5 of them are minors.

The Rapporteur requested answers as an introduction and to gather information for his report dealing with the circumstances surrounding the imposition and implementation of the death penalty and its impact on individuals sentenced to death, their family members and other individuals concerned.

There is no transparency in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s official dealings with the execution file. There is no official database showing the numbers of individuals facing the death penalty, and there are no clear and easy mechanisms for families and legal authorities to access the necessary information about the individual facing the sentence. In many cases, the family is not aware of the Supreme Court's approval of the ruling, nor does it know the place and time of its implementation.

In the mass execution carried out by Saudi Arabia in March 2022, the organization had only monitored 13 cases out of the 81 sentences that were executed.1 In addition, according to the organization’s monitoring, hundreds of foreign workers face death sentences, but the organization has not been able to document them.

While the official Human Rights Commission announced a moratorium on death sentences for drug crimes, the effective laws have not been amended, and none of the individuals facing final death sentences trial have been retried., and they thus face an unknown fate.

In 2021, Saudi Arabia executed 67 people, including at least a minor, and from the beginning of 2022 until the end of March, Saudi Arabia executed 117 people, 81 of whom were killed in a mass execution.

Source: ESOHR