Defiant Saudi Arabia defends planned execution of 14 Shia Muslims

Saudi Arabia has defended the death penalties it has handed down to 14 Shia Muslim nationals amid criticisms that the defendants were tortured into false confessions and convicted in sham trials.

In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Friday, Mansour al-Qafari, a spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Justice, claimed that all trials at the so-called Specialized Criminal Court — which sentenced the 14 to death — had met international standards and that the media and human rights observers had had access to the court sessions.

The 14 men are among a group of 24 people who were all convicted last year of carrying out attacks on police stations in the town of Awamiyah and the city of Seihat, both situated in the Qatif region of the Shia Muslim dominated Eastern Province.

Nine of the others were sentenced to prison terms and the remaining one was cleared of the charges.

Late last month, the “Specialized Criminal Court” upheld the death sentences of the 14 Shia Muslims, with reports saying that they had been transferred to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for execution.

A London-based human rights organization, Reprieve, denounced the Friday Saudi statement as a justification for the imminent execution of the Shias, saying that one of the individuals, 17-year-old Mujtaba al-Sweikat, had never seen a lawyer, and no evidence had been presented against another, disabled Munir al-Adamno, during his trial.

“Saudi Arabia’s attempts to justify these 14 unlawful executions are appalling. This statement is a serious mischaracterization of the trial process against the 14 men,” said Reprieve Director Maya Foa.

She described as “risible” Riyadh’s claim that Sweikat had received a fair trial, saying, “Governments close to Saudi Arabia — including the [US President Donald] Trump administration and the UK — must urgently call on the kingdom to halt these executions.”

Additionally, a Saudi rights activist, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters, “The sentences were based on confessions that the accused had retracted in court, because they were taken by pressure and torture.”

The ruling against the 14 Shias is final and will be carried out after it is approved by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Amnesty International separately urged the Saudi king not to ratify the death penalties as they had been the result of “sham court proceedings that brazenly flout international fair trial standards.”

SS