Execution by beheading in Saudi Arabia. © Private
Two men who were juveniles at the time of their alleged crimes were among five men beheaded in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, Amnesty International has revealed.
The death sentences against Sultan Bin Sulayman Bin Muslim al-Muwallad, a Saudi Arabian, and ‘Issa Bin Muhammad ‘Umar Muhammad, a Chadian, were imposed after grossly unfair trial proceedings.
The two men were executed, along with three other men, after being convicted of a number of offences committed when they were 17 years old, including the abduction and rape of children, theft, and consumption of alcohol and drugs.
These offences had, according to the judgement by the General Court in Madina, amounted to “corruption on earth”, a charge that can carry the death penalty even when the offences do not result in lethal consequences.
“Yesterday’s beheadings are a deplorable addition to Saudi Arabia’s grim tally of executions,” said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme. “It is cruel and inhumane to put anyone to death, but it is particularly outrageous to do so when the executions take place after grossly unfair procedures and when they take the lives of individuals accused of committing crimes when they were still minors.”
The men were among seven arrested in 2004 and held incommunicado at police stations in Madina, where they were allegedly beaten in an attempt to make them confess. Four years later, in February 2008, the Madina General Court sentenced five of them to death after a trial that was held in secret. Their sentences were upheld by the Court of Cassation in Makkah in July 2008.
Two other men in the same case – Bilal Bin Muslih Bin Jabir al-Muwallad, a Saudi Arabian, and Ahmad Hamid Muhammad Sabir, a Chadian, who were just 15 and 13 respectively at the time of their alleged offences – were sentenced to “severe flogging” on the same charges, in addition to 15 years of imprisonment.
Specifically, they will receive 1,500 and 1,250 severe lashes respectively, administered in instalments at 10-day intervals in public at the scene of the offences.
Amnesty International has repeatedly raised the cases of these seven men with the Saudi Arabian authorities in the past year. Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which expressly prohibits the use of punishments such as flogging.
Due to the strict secrecy of the criminal justice system, it is not possible to know how many of those convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18 have been put to death in Saudi Arabia, but Amnesty International is aware of at least eight other juveniles who are feared to be on death row.
They include Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan national who was 17 at the time of the alleged murder for which she was sentenced to death following her arrest in 2005. They may also include Sultan Kohail, a 16-year-old Canadian national who is facing trial in an adult court on murder charges, along with his brother Mohamed Kohail, aged 22, who has been sentenced to death.
Saudi Arabia is also a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which expressly prohibits the execution of juveniles. Saudi Arabian officials have maintained that they comply with this obligation because they do not execute children. In fact, the Convention prohibits executions for crimes committed while a person is under 18, regardless of when the sentence is carried out.
At least 158 people, including 76 foreign nationals, were executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities in 2007, and at least 102 people, including almost 40 foreign nationals were executed in 2008. Since the beginning of 2009, a further 36 people are known to have been executed.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences. Court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them.
Prisoners under sentence of death may not be informed of the date of execution until the morning when they are taken out and beheaded. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress or deception.
Amnesty International has called for the sentences of flogging against Bilal Bin Muslih Bin Jabir al-Muwallad and Ahmad Hamid Muhammad Sabir to be commuted to a humane punishment.
A copy of a letter written to the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper by a Canadian man facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia has been obtained by The Canadian Press. In it, Mohamed Kohail pleads with the prime minister to utilise "every way possible to get me out of this situation."  

Kohail, 23, of Montreal, was sentenced on March 3, 2008 to be publicly executed following a confession for murder at a Saudi school. Kohail claims the confession was obtained under duress. The Saudi Supreme Court advised the lower court on April 9, 2009 to renounce the death penalty; however, the request was refused.

Munzer Al-Hiraki, 19, was killed in an after-school fight in January 2007, allegedly after Kohail's brother, Sultan, insulted a girl. The brothers claim that the fight involved a large group of boys, and felt they were acting in self defense.

Sultan, 16 at the time, said that Mohamed came to his rescue with a friend, only to be greeted by a group armed with knives and clubs. Witnesses for the brothers say that Al-Hiraki had arrived at the school with carloads of friends to seek vengeance on Sultan. 

"I was tortured to sign a confession. I was misinformed that I would be allowed out of custody the moment I signed it," said Kohail.

In the letter, delivered by Canadian MP Deepak Obhrai last December, Kohail continues, "Mr. Harper, I have been in jail for two years now. I am imprisoned with hundreds of high-profile criminals in Saudi Arabia for a crime that I did not commit. I've lost my hair, two years of my life and see death coming to me closer every day."

Kohail received 80 days to appeal the sentence. "There were nine hearings in total and only one time was the lawyer for Mohamed and his friend allowed in the courtroom; not even Mohamed's father, Ali (was allowed in)," said a relative.

Harper is seeking clemency for the Kohail brothers. "It has to be worked within the confines of the Saudi law and it's important to recognize that and work with the Saudi officials to come to a resolution," said Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon. According to the letter, the Canadian government began seeking clemency March of 2008.

If the court continues to uphold the death penalty, the only other option is the payment of dia, or blood money, in exchange for forgiveness — but Al-Hiraki's family seeking CA$5 million.

Sultan Kohail is a juvenile who is out on bail awaiting to be tried in adult court on murder charges. The Convention on the Rights of the Child forbids execution of youths under the age of 18, which Saudi Arabia officials declare they comply with.  However, the Convention also prohibits execution for crimes committed as juveniles no matter when the court sentences them.

Born in Palestine, the Kohail brothers moved to Canada in 2000, and became Canadian citizens in 2005. They moved to Jiddah in 2006.

In October 2007, Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said, "We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law." Previously Canada consistently sought clemency from all foreign governments after the death penalty was abolished in Canada in 1976.

Since the beginning of 2009, 36 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia. 102 were executed in 2008 and 158 were executed in 2007.