http://news.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE230192007 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 

URGENT ACTION            

Saudi Arabia: Death Penalty/Fear of imminent execution

SAUDI ARABIA Dhahian Rakan al-Sibai’I (m), Saudi Arabian national Mohamed Kohail (m), aged 22, Canadian national
Sultan Kohail (m), aged 16, Canadian national The three named above, two of them child offenders, may all be at risk of imminent execution. Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and has undertaken not to execute any offenders who were children when they committed the offence.

According to the newspaper Okaz, Saudi Arabian national Dhahian Rakan al-Sibai’ i was sentenced to death for a murder committed while he was still a child. He was held in a juvenile detention facility until he was 18 years old, when he was moved to al-Taif Prison. He has appealed to the family of the victim to pardon him: if this fails, he could be executed within days. All death sentences must be ratified by the Supreme Judicial Council, headed by the King,
before they can be carried out. However, under Qisas (retribution), which is a punishment under Shari’a law, relatives of the murder victim can pardon the offender without compensation, or they can demand diya (blood money) in
exchange for a pardon. When this happens, the death sentence is rescinded and the offender if often released.

Negotiation of a pardon in the western part of Saudi Arabia is often initiated or facilitated by the Pardon and Reconciliation Committee. The Committee is said to be mediating on behalf of Dhahian Rakan al-Sibai’i to secure a pardon and prevent his execution.

Canadian national Mohamed Kohail is also said to be facing execution for murdering a Syrian boy in January 2007. His 16-year-old brother Sultan Kohail is held with him in connection with the murder, but it is not clear whether he
too has been sentenced to death. Mohamed Kohail was reportedly beaten to force him to sign a confession.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences. Court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial, and take place behind closed doors.

Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress,
torture or deception.

In January 2006 the Saudi Arabian authorities told the Committee on the Rights of the Child (which monitors states’ implementation of the CRC) that no one had been executed for offences committed when they were under 18 years of age since the CRC came into force in the country, in February 1996. The Committee urged the authorities to ensure that no child offenders were sentenced to death.