Statement of condemnation from the Arab and Jordanian alliances against the death penalty Mass executions carried out by the Saudi authorities
With great regret, the Arab and Jordanian alliances against the death penalty received the news of the execution of 37 Saudi human rights prisoners. This new round of mass executions is a tragic negative step, and a major setback for Arab countries in their attempts to reform legislation and to find alternative sanctions far from the penalty of violating the sacred right to life.
The two executions on Tuesday morning were a great shock to all those opposed to the death penalty in the Arab world and beyond. Saudi’s insistence on a cruel and inhuman punishment is inexcusable. It is inconceivable that a state can claim to adhere to divine justice, yet promote the violation of the sacred right its sacred right to life.
Saudi authorities have executed 37 Saudis in five different regions after convictions of terrorism-related charges, disrupting security, creating chaos and provoking sectarian strife, a charge commonly used in prosecutions of political dissidents, particularly sectarian minorities. It has one of the highest rates of execution rates in the world.
Even if the death sentence is a judicial decision, the death penalty must be condemned for violating the right to life. Many international human rights organisations have on many occasions expressed serious doubts about the Saudi justice system and reiterated their calls on the Saudi government to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression in all forms recognised by international human rights conventions and charters.
The two alliances affirm the condemnation of terrorism, which takes away the lives of innocent victims and destabilizes security and stability in all its forms. They differentiate between it and the legitimate demand for freedoms and reform and the right to peaceful protest against manifestations of tyranny, oppression, corruption and the confiscation of freedoms. In this sense, they oppose the death sentences and their implementation by Saudi Arabia, especially as they are issued by a judicial system that lacks the principles of the United Nations for the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession and which do not meet the minimum international standards for fair trial. The two parties therefore strongly condemn the implementation of the recent mass executions, the 37 accused, did not receive a fair trial.
In the past years, international human rights organisations have witnessed serious violations of these rights and freedoms in Saudi Arabia. Amongst them manifestations that indicate the absence of equality amongst citizens, and many of those executed by the perpetrators. Human rights organisations critisizethese practices and demand that the authorities do not discriminate and deliberately marginalise the population from certain area. The horrific murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi embassy in Istanbul last year is further proof of this.
The coalition calls on the Saudi government to put an end to the rampant death penalty and abolish the legal articles utilise this punishment. They also demand that awareness should be raised on the importance of the right to life, so as to abolish the punishment on the right to life and freedom.
Amman, 25/4/2019
