UN experts, NGOs call on Saudi Arabia not to execute youth
Ali al-Nimr accused of incitement, terror activity, as a minor
A group of UN experts has joined the call of human rights groups, asking Saudi Arabia to spare the life of a man convicted of crimes allegedly committed when he was minor, during protests inspired by the Arab Spring.
Ali al-Nimr, a nephew of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, faces execution by beheading as well as the rare punishment of “crucifixion,” the displaying his dead body after execution as a warning to others, CNN reported, quoting Saudi state media.
“Any judgment imposing the death penalty upon persons who were children at the time of the offense, and their execution, are incompatible with Saudi Arabia’s international obligations,” the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, one of the UN institutions, said in a statement Tuesday.
Nimr was 17 years old when he was arrested for taking part in demonstrations in 2012 calling for social and political reforms in the country’s predominantly Shiite province of Qatif.
He was later convicted of charges including being a member of a terror cell, attacking police officers, incitement, and stoking sectarianism. His final appeal was rejected after an appeals court and High Court ratified his verdict last week.
The case has now come into the spotlight since it coincides with the appointment of Saudi Arabia’s envoy to the UN in Geneva, Daisal Trad, for a one-year membership of the Human Rights Council’s Consultative Group.
A spokesman for the UNHRC told CNN that “Members of the Consultative Group are appointed by the regional groups, and not the Human Rights Council or any other UN body. These members serve in their personal capacity, not their national capacity, for a period of one year.”
Another reason for the renewed interest in the story comes from a tweet by TV anchor Bill Maher.
Almost a week ago, Maher tweeted, “If you haven’t used up all your heroism on the clock kid, try hashtagging #AliMohammedAlNimr.” Maher was referring to Ahmed Mohammed, a Muslim American teenager who brought a home-assembled digital clock to school and was arrested after teachers said the clock looked like a bomb.
Saudi Arabia is considered one of the world’s worst human rights offenders. By June 2015, at least 100 people were executed in the kingdom, more than the entire number executed in all of 2014, according to data from the NGO Human Rights Watch.