Young Shia man executed in Saudi Arabia

By carrying out this execution the Saudi Arabian authorities have displayed a deplorable disregard for the right to life.

He is the latest victim of Saudi Arabia’s deeply flawed justice system which regularly sees people sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials based on confessions extracted through torture.

He was convicted of 13 charges, including participating in the anti-government protests in Qatif in 2011.

A few days ago, the Saudi judiciary upheld the death sentence of this young Saudi man and this sentence was carried out this morning.

However, some international and human rights organizations have called on the Saudi government to suspend the death penalty and abide by international law.

Some legal sources say that there was enough evidence to justify Mustafa but the verdict against him was more political and that the Saudi judiciary had refused to change it at all.

According to Amnesty International, Mustafa al-Darwish, 26, was arrested in May 2015 for his alleged participation in riots between 2011 and 2012.

During his detention, he was placed in solitary confinement and held incommunicado for six months, and denied access to a lawyer until the beginning of his trial two years later, violating his right to a fair trial.

In March 2018 he was sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court on a string of charges including “participation in armed rebellion against the rulers, blocking roads and sowing discord”; “forming… an armed terrorist network and firing at security officials” and “seeking to disrupt national cohesion through his participation in more than 10 riots.”