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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Saudi Arabia | Ali al-Nimr's Death Sentence is Commuted

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REPRIEVE, Press release, Feb. 7, 2021 -- Ali al Nimr - who was arrested and sentenced to death for attending a pro-democracy protest as a teen in Saudi Arabia - has had his sentence reduced to 10 years by the Specialized Criminal Court today.

A Royal Decree published last year announced the end of the death penalty for crimes committed by children. 

Ali's sentence reduction shows the decree in action.

Ali has spent over nine years on death row. 

According to the ruling, he should be released from prison this year.

But other young people like Ali are still facing the death penalty for childhood 'crimes' in Saudi Arabia. 

The Royal Decree must be applied urgently in those cases - including for Abdullah al-Zaher, Dawood al-Marhoon and Mohammed al-Faraj.

Reprieve's Director Maya Foa said: "It feels odd to talk about progress when a young man has spent nearly a decade on death row for attending a peaceful demonstration, but today's ruling is clearly a positive step. Ali al-Nimr should now be freed later this year. But true change isn't about a few high-profile cases; it means making sure no-one is ever sentenced to death for a childhood 'crime' again in Saudi Arabia."

Source: Reprieve, Staff, February 7, 2021


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: Saudi Arabia
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