Family of Saudi disabled death-row protester appeal for help

The family of a disabled man who faces execution in Saudi Arabia for allegedly attending protests have appealed for help to save his life – and given fresh details of the abuses he has suffered.

Munir al-Adam was arrested in 2012 in the midst of a Saudi crackdown on political protests. Born with a hearing and sight impairment, Munir was tortured so badly by Saudi police that he became completely deaf in one ear. He was forced to sign a false confession, later used to sentence him to death in a secretive trial. Last weekend, the Saudi Supreme Court confirmed Munir’s death sentence, along with those handed to 13 other alleged protesters. He could now be executed at any time.

In a statement given to human rights organization Reprieve, Munir’s family said: “We are issuing a warning of our son’s potential imminent execution. Now that he has been sentenced to death and the verdict has been confirmed by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, his case is with the Ministry of Interior to carry out his execution.”

The family also gave details of Munir’s secretive trial before the Specialized Criminal Court, the Kingdom's secret anti-terrorism court, which has handed death sentences to scores of alleged protesters. The family said that during the proceedings, Munir and his lawyer were “subjected to threats”, eventually forcing the lawyer to recuse himself from the case. The judge refused to consider any evidence beyond Munir’s false confession, the family said, “despite our repeated requests [to the Court] to produce any evidence proving our son’s guilt.”

Detailing his torture, they said: “Munir was subjected to various methods of torture, including the falaka (foot whipping) technique, being forced to stand for long periods of time, sleep deprivation, being beaten with a stick, wire or hose, being shocked with electricity, and being prevented from using the toilets. […] Munir has been held in solitary confinement for more than a month now.”

Last week, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May faced calls to intervene to prevent the executions – including from British MPs from across the parties, who have asked Mrs May to “personally urge Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Bin Salman to halt the 14 upcoming executions.”

Commenting, Director of Reprieve Maya Foa said: “The Saudi authorities have put Munir and his family through an appalling ordeal. It is deeply worrying that the courts have confirmed the death sentences handed to Munir and 13 others – including juveniles – after patently unfair trials, which introduced no evidence beyond the defendants' coerced confessions. The UK, US and other governments that are close to the Saudis must waste no time – they must intervene now and urge Saudi Arabia to halt these planned executions, before it’s too late.”

The statement from Munir’s family can be read in full below:

We, the family of the detainee Munir Abdullah Ahmed al‐Adam, hereby appeal to human rights organizations and the international community to immediately and urgently intervene to save our son from execution. The Saudi Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh handed the death sentence to our son Munir without any actual evidence. The judge adopted the ruling based on a confession that our son was forced to accept duress of physical and psychological torture, and the threat of further torture if he did not comply.

The notorious prisons of Saudi Arabia's General Investigations Directorate are well known for extreme torture ‐ our son Munir al‐Adam lost hearing due to the severity of his torture; his eyesight is also affected because he was detained in solitary confinement with alternately very dim and very bright lights. Munir was subjected to various methods of torture, including the falaka (foot whipping) technique, being forced to stand for long periods of time, sleep deprivation, being beaten with a stick, wire or hose, being shocked with electricity, and being prevented from using the toilets.

The charges against Munir are false and untrue – his sentence is invalid and in violation of local and international law. Our son has been sentenced to death without any evidence. The court relied only on his coerced confession. The judge in his case, despite having multiple opportunities to consider evidence before Munir’s sentencing hearing, simply said, “I cannot accept any evidence, I am content to rely upon his confession.” How can someone be sentenced to death based on no evidence?

Munir was arrested at age 20. After nearly three and a half years in detention, he was brought before an unfair trial, in which our son and his lawyer were subjected to threats, which made the lawyer withdraw and abandon his defense. In a trial that was supposed to be fair, neither Munir nor his lawyer was given the time or opportunity to examine his case. Both were pressed on to quickly respond to the charges throughout the sessions and trial, which were merely a formality, despite our repeated requests to the judge, prosecutor and the President of the Court to produce any evidence proving our

son’s guilt. Unfortunately, our requests were not considered.

We are issuing a warning of our son’s potential imminent execution. Now that he has been sentenced to death and the verdict has been confirmed by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, his case is with the Ministry of Interior to carry out his execution. Munir has been held in solitary confinement for more than a month now. He is denied communication with the outside world and cannot receive visitors – he is completely isolated.

Even if we suppose that, hypothetically, Munir is guilty as charged, is it fair and just that he receive a death sentence? Has he shed blood, or killed someone?

Source: Reprieve, July 29, 2017

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Comments

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog