The Saudi regime commits premeditated murder by executing 7 prisoners of conscience
The Saudi authorities carried out the largest mass execution since March 2022, when they put 81 people to death on similar charges, ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, by executing seven of prisoners of conscience.
The Saudi Ministry of Interior released a statement on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, claiming that the men were executed after being accused them of “creating and financing terrorist organisations.” Human rights organisations, however, confirmed that they had suffered numerous legal and human rights violations, denied legal presentations, and had been falsely accused before the infamous Specialised Criminal Court.
Despite the fact that the Specialized Criminal Court was set up by the Saudi regime ostensibly to hear cases pertaining to terrorism, the truth is that the court handles cases involving peaceful expression of opinion, ideological disagreement, and political opposition to the ruling regime. Most of the people who appear before the court are brutally tortured and made to sign confession papers they do not understand. Also, they are frequently not given access to their official charge sheet and are not granted a legal representation.
Since these sentences were carried out in secret without notifying the families of the date and location of the execution, the execution procedure itself was carried out illegally, and the authorities have up until this point prevented the families from speaking to the media.
According to human rights organisations, the Saudi authorities executed 31 people this year, compared to at least 172 in 2023.
Together for Justice declares its unequivocal rejection of any convictions pertaining to the expression of opinion, whether they be death sentences or prison terms. We also urge Western governments and pertinent international organizations that support the Saudi regime to take immediate action to halt the execution of these sentences and apply pressure to guarantee the release of all political prisoners and the attainment of their rights.
Furthermore, we declare that the current Saudi legal system is politically motivated and cannot be trusted because no inquiries have been opened into the torture claims made by those detained. As a result, the regime has been using it as a weapon to mistreat and destroy the reputations of its opponents.
We demand that the Saudi judiciary adhere to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s ruling, which states that “final judicial rulings imposing the death penalty as a punishment for juveniles, including all persons who have not yet reached the age of (eighteen) at the time of their commission of the crime, including those convicted of murder (death penalty) for terrorist crimes” must be suspended.
