7 September 2021 - A group of UN human rights experts released a communication harshly criticizing Saudi Arabia for the execution of Mustafa al-Darwish in June.
The experts, which included the Special Rapporteur on Executions, were deeply dismayed that previous communications regarding al-Darwish’s case had gone unanswered, and that the Kingdom had carried out al-Darwish’s execution despite the UN’s strong concerns of a deeply unfair trial.
The UN Special Procedures on Executions, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Assembly, and Torture wrote to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in June regarding the pending execution of Mustafa al-Darwish, a young man sentenced to death for protest-related crimes, many of which occurred when he was a minor. Although it is customary for UN Member States including Saudi Arabia to respond to UN Special Procedures communications, and in some cases stay execution or criminal punishment pending investigation into the allegations raised by the human rights experts, Saudi Arabia failed to respond in this instance. Instead, the government carried out al-Darwish’s execution, mere days after receiving the letter from the UN.
In a strongly-worded critique of Saudi behavior, the human rights experts condemned Saudi Arabia for the execution. “We now are shocked that, in spite of the seriousness of the allegations brought to the attention of your Excellency’s Government in our urgent appeal, Mr. al Darwish was executed, our concerns left unheard and unaddressed,” they wrote.
The experts raised additional allegations that the Saudi government had failed to notify the family of the pending execution, and had denied the family access to al-Darwish’s body. The family has been unable to perform funeral rites as a result.
The international community has been extremely vocal on the subject of child executions in Saudi Arabia in recent months. In June, the European Parliament near-unanimously passed a resolution condemning the execution and calling on the Government to implement its promises towards death penalty reform.
Last September, 29 countries joined together at the UN Human Rights Council to highlight the use of torture in Saudi criminal proceedings, including those implicating the death penalty.