Sunday, October 09, 2016

UN calls on Saudi Arabia to stop torturing, executing minors in scathing report...

A UN watchdog has slammed Saudi Arabia for subjecting minors as young as 15 to stoning, flogging, amputation, and even execution, contrary to the children rights convention, but a Saudi official reportedly responded that sharia is “above all laws and treaties.”

On Thursday, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) published a report on Saudi Arabia’s track record in enforcing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which it is a party.

Upon reviewing the kingdom’s government policy towards children, who are defined as individuals under 18 years old for the purposes of the convention, the committee urged Saudi authorities to revise its legislation “without any further delay… with a view to unambiguously prohibit the imposition of death sentence on children” pursuant to the convention.

The document noted that minors in Saudi Arabia can stand trial as adults after they reach the age of 15, and that Saudi courts issue and carry out death sentences “after trials falling short of guarantees of a due process and fair trial… especially as concerns the absolute prohibition of torture.”

“The Committee is particularly concerned that out of the 47 persons executed on 2 January 2016, at least four, namely Ali al Ribh, Mohammad Fathi, Mustafa Akbar and Amin al-Ghamadi were under the age of 18 when sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court,” the report says. Full story...

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