Saudi Arabia: death sentences confirmed

The Court of Cassation has confirmed the death sentence against Canadian national Mohamed Kohail and Jordanian national Mehanna Sa’d. Their sentences will now have to be approved by the Supreme Judicial Council. If approved, the two men could be executed at any time.

Sultan Kohail is still awaiting retrial at a General Court. Amnesty International has previously expressed concern that if he were retried at a General Court, Sultan Kohail could be sentenced to death, despite the fact that he is 17 years old. Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which prohibits the execution of those under 18 at the time of the crime.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences, including some with no lethal consequences, and does so following trials which invariably fall short of the most basic international standards. Hearings are often held in secret, and defendants are barely permitted any formal legal representation. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress or deception. In many cases defendants and their families are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. Prisoners under sentence of death may not be informed of the date of execution until the morning when they are taken out and beheaded.

The number of executions in 2008 is increasing fast. In 2007 the authorities executed at least 158 people, of whom 76 were foreign nationals. At least 82 people have been executed so far this year, almost half of whom have been foreign nationals.

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Source: Amnesty International

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