The use of the death penalty is on the rise in Saudi Arabia. One person was executed every 25 hours in the country with a staggering 345 people executed in 2024. This is in spite of international calls for an end to the practice.
Normally, the death penalty is reserved internationally for the “most serious” crimes. Saudi authorities have disregarded this threshold for the death penalty and apply it arbitrarily to political dissidents. Take the case of Abdulmajeed al-Nimr. In 2024, Abdulmajeed al-Nimr, a retired traffic police officer, was sentenced to death for charges relating to terrorism. Court documents tell a different story – the Specialized Criminal Court found al-Nimr guilty of charges not concerning terrorism but instead related to political demonstrations such as chanting slogans against the state and its rulers.
Unfortunately, Abdulmajeed al-Nimr’s case is not a unique one. Yousif al-Manasif was arrested when he was 14 years old. After arrest, the young Yousif was repeatedly beaten and abused by authorities. After years of ill-treatment at the hands of Saudi authorities, the Saudi court of appeals has reinstated his death penalty. He now faces the death penalty for crimes related to demonstrating against the Saudi government when he was a minor.
As the international community continues to build relationships with the Saudi government and as international sports become more comfortable with hosting events in the country, the international community must decide if cooperation with Saudi Arabia is more important than the rights of the Saudi people. The Saudi authorities are charging peaceful protestors with crimes related to terrorism in an attempt to justify the blatant execution of political dissenters. The use of the death penalty should be condemned by the international community and its increased frequency should be reversed. It’s now time for the international community to call on the Saudi government to instate an immediate moratorium on the death penalty.
