In continuation of the increase in executions, on 6 September 2021 Saudi Arabia carried out the 50th death sentence since the beginning of 2021 against young Adnan Bin Mustafa Al-Sharfa. By this execution, the number of death sentences carried out during 9 months of 2021 doubled, as a whole, the death sentences carried out in 2020, which was monitored by the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights.
The organization had recorded 25 death sentences in 2020, published by the official Saudi Press Agency. However, the Human Rights Commission announced that the number of executions carried out was 27.
This execution confirms the falsity and deceit of Saudi statements about reforms, especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's promises on several occasions to reduce the number of executions and limit them to issues related to legitimate borders. This ruling shows how this is used for deceptive marketing, since the Tazir death sentence against Al-Sharfa is subject to the discretion of the judge in a case not related to legitimate borders.
The European-Saudi organization did not monitor Al-Sharfa's case, nor did it follow the details of his trial. However, the organization's follow-up of the trial process in similar cases raises serious fears regarding him being tortured and ill-treated and forced to confess under duress in the absence of an independent and impartial judiciary. The news of the execution, which was published by the official Saudi Press Agency, indicated that among the charges Al-Sharfa faced were stirring chaos and riots, shooting in an attempt to kill and smuggle weapons. The organization has documented Saudi Arabia's use of similar charges in other cases to convict peaceful demonstrators and activists from Al-Qatif province, to which Al-Sharfa also belongs. This raises doubts about the nature of these charges and Al-Sharfa's activism.
According to ESOHR, the Saudi government's policy of intimidation inhibits access to information about all cases where individuals are facing execution. In the absence of official transparency, it is difficult to reach the true numbers of individuals facing death sentences.
With ESOHR monitoring 41 cases at various levels of litigation for death sentences, the true figures are alarmingly higher. In March 2021, the organization monitored the execution of Ahmed Said al-Janabi by the Saudi government under similar circumstances. The organization also monitored the execution of a young man, Mustafa al-Darwish, days after the family knew that his sentence had been ratified by the Supreme Court.
ESOHR believes that the Saudi government's bloody handling of the death penalty file is becoming more intense, and it is breaking all previous promises to commute death sentences. The organization stresses that the lack of any means to follow up on the trials is a form of secrecy surrounding them, and therefore this sentences are arbitrary and must be immediately suspended and all those responsible for the violations surrounding them held to account.