Saudi Arabia ends death penalty for minors

Saudi Arabia will no longer allow the death penalty as a punishment for people who have committed a crime as a minor, the country’s human rights commission announced Monday.

The commission’s president, Awwad Alawwad, said in a statement that the decision is a reflection of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to revitalize “critical human rights reforms” after years of criticism from human rights organizations.

“The decree helps us in establishing a more modern penal code, and demonstrates the Kingdom’s commitment to following through on key reforms across all sectors of our country as part of Vision 2030, directly supervised by the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman,” Mr. Alawwad said.

The latest ruling will remove execution as a punishment for minors and instead will prompt a prison sentence for up to 10 years in a juvenile detention facility.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly come under fire from human rights groups who have said the country has posed one of the worst human rights records in the world.

Amnesty International in a statement Monday said that while the move “represents a significant step for Saudi Arabia if implemented, the country’s continued use of the death penalty reached a shocking high last year with 184 recorded executions.”

“The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment; no country should still be using it and Saudi Arabia’s record is particularly bad in this respect,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director.

She called on the country to “now establish an official moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty completely.”

Saudi Arabia’s announcement comes roughly a week after the country announced a ban on flogging as a form of criminal punishment.

“More reforms will be coming,” Mr. Alawwad said. “We are confident that Saudi Arabia will live up to its objectives in creating a better quality of life for all of its citizens and residents.”