A Saudi teenager is facing the possibility of the death penalty from his government for crimes he committed years before.
“There are few more serious breaches of international law than the execution of a child,” Maya Foa, director of the human rights group Reprive, told the New York Times. “The Saudi regime is advertising its impunity to the world.”
Murtaja Qureiris, 18, was arrested by the Saudi government when he was 13 years old and held without charge for more than four years.
Now that Qureiris is old enough to be charged with capital crimes, the government has brought charges against the boy related to participating in anti-government protests when he was 10 with prosecutors recommending the death penalty.
“There should be no doubt that the Saudi Arabian authorities are ready to go to any length to crack down on dissent against their own citizens, including by resorting to the death penalty for men who were merely boys at the time of their arrest,” Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East research director, said.
The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, a nonprofit committed to strengthening human rights in Saudi Arabia, released an extensive report on the case where they detail how Qureiris was tortured to force a confession out of him.
“During the period of investigation, Murtaja was subjected to coercion and deception by the interrogators. He remained in solitary confinement for a month, during which he was tortured and beaten, and he was also promised repeatedly that he would be released if he cooperated with the investigation and admitted the charges against him,” the report said. They added that the facilities Qureiris was held in have had allegations of sexual crimes against children.
Qureiris was the youngest political prisoner in the world at the time of his arrest.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Saudi Arabia embassy for comment.
