MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Saudi Arabia, the case of Mr Ali Muhammed al-Nimr

6.10.2015 - (2015/2883(RSP))

with request for inclusion in the agenda for a debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure

Ignazio Corrao, Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Rolandas Paksas on behalf of the EFDD Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B8-0997/2015

B8‑1025/2015

European Parliament resolution on Saudi Arabia, the case of Mr Ali Muhammed al-Nimr

(2015/2883(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolution on Saudi Arabia notably those concerning human rights and, in particular, that of 12 February 2015 on the case of Mr Raif Badawi,

 

– having regard to Statement by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the UN Committee on the Rights of Child,

 

– having regard to the statement of the Compilation of information regarding Saudi Arabia's human rights commitments by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights;

 

– having regard to the decision of the Arab League’s Ministerial Council, meeting in Cairo on 1 September 2013, to set up a pan-Arab court of human rights in Bahrain’s capital, Manama,

 

– having regard to the EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy of 25 June 2012,

 

– having regard to the 2004 EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, as updated in 2008,

 

– having regard to the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Arab Charter on Human Rights, to all of which Saudi Arabia is a party;

 

– having regard to the Amnesty report on Saudi Arabia’s use of the death penalty, titled Killing in the name of justice: the death penalty in Saudi Arabia,

 

– having regard to the resolutions of the UN General Assembly, particularly Resolutions 62/149 and 63/138 concerning a moratorium on executions pending the abolition of the death penalty

 

– having regard to the 1984 United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Saudi Arabia has ratified

 

– having regard to the 1979 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

 

– having regard to the article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,

 

– having regard to the 1949 Geneva Convention,

 

– having regard to Rule 135 of its Rules of Procedure,

 

A.  Whereas human rights violations in Saudi Arabia remain of great concern; whereas many recent actions by the Saudi authorities continue to violate and restrict the rights and freedoms of segments of the population, in particular the right of individuals to peaceful protest, freedom of expression and digital freedom; whereas human rights activists face ongoing systematic targeting, harassment and detention,

 

B.  Whereas Ali al-Nimr was sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC), a special security and counter-terror court, on 27 May 2014; whereas his death sentence was upheld both by the appeal division of the SCC and by the Supreme Court sometime earlier this year, without his or his lawyer’s knowledge; whereas the court seems to have based its decision solely on “confessions” which Ali al-Nimr has said were extracted under torture and other ill-treatment,

 

C.  Whereas Ali al-Nimr was denied the basic right to meet with his lawyer to respond to the charges initially brought against him, or to later appeal the death sentence issued by the First Instance judge at the SCC; whereas authorities held him nearly nine months without taking him before a judge, and did not allow him to have a lawyer during his interrogation; whereas many of the broadly framed charges against him don't resemble recognizable crimes under international law;

 

D.  Whereas the Saudi Arabian authorities have in Ali al-Nimr’s case violated both international law and standards on fair trial rights during appeals, as well as the right to appeal provided by Saudi Arabian law; whereas under Saudi Arabian law, convicted individuals can appeal a first instance court decision in writing within 30 days of the sentence, but because Ali al-Nimr was prevented from meeting his lawyer, he was not able to present any appeal;

 

E.  Whereas Ali al-Nimr’s uncle, Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, prominent Shi’s cleric and the Imam of al-Awamiyya mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia is one of those sentenced to death in relation to protests in the Eastern Province; whereas he was detained without an arrest warrant on 8 July 2012 and was sentenced to death by the SCC on 15 October 2014 after a deeply flawed trial and for vaguely worded offences that violate the principle of legality,

 

F.  Whereas Saudi Arabia has one of the highest known execution rates in the world and so far this year, it has executed 135 people; whereas over 80 people were executed in 2014, mostly by beheading; whereas the physical punishments imposed by Saudi courts — as beheading, stoning, amputation and lashing — and the number and pace of executions are a matter of serious concern; whereas in 2012, 79 people were executed and 47 so far in 2013; whereas there were 423 reported executions between 2007 and 2012,

 

G.  Whereas the speeches, the press and other forms of communicative media, including television and radio broadcasting and Internet activities, are actively censored by the government to prevent political dissent and anything deemed, by the government, to be offensive to the Wahhabi culture or Islamic morality; whereas public demonstrations or any public act of dissent are forbidden;

 

H.  Whereas Saudi authorities detained Zuhair Kutbi, a prominent writer and commentator, on July 15, 2015, following a TV interview in which he discussed his ideas for peaceful reform,

 

I.  Whereas Raif Badawi was arrested in June 2012 after criticising the kingdom’s clerics through his Saudi Arabian Liberals website and was later sentenced to a decade in prison and 1,000 lashes; whereas Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court is again reviewing his case,

 

J.  Whereas Ali al-Nimr is one of at least seven Saudi Arabian Shi’a Muslim activists who were sentenced to death in 2014 following protests that have taken place in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province since 2011; whereas at least 20 people suspected of taking part in those protests have been killed by security forces since 2011 and hundreds have been imprisoned; whereas recent estimates of the number of political prisoners in Mabahith prisons range from an estimate of zero by the Saudi Ministry of Interior to 30,000 by the UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission,

 

K.  Whereas the Saudi Arabian Law of Criminal Procedures, specifically Articles 36(1) and 102, other national law, as well as international treaties to which the country is a state party, particularly the Convention against Torture, clearly and categorically prohibit the use of torture or other ill-treatment,

 

L.  Whereas Saudi Arabia also continues to sentence to death and execute individuals for crimes committed when they were below 18 years of age and against persons with mental disabilities, in violation of international law,

 

M.  Whereas a 2014 analysis of Saudi Arabia’s online prisoner database revealed that 293 people had apparently been held in pre-trial detention for over six months without the cases being referred to the judiciary, whereas sixteen of them had apparently been held for over 2 years and one for over 10 years; whereas Article 114 of Saudi Arabia’s Law of Criminal Procedure (LCP) provides that a person may be detained without charge for a maximum of five days, renewable up to a total of six months by an order from the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution;

 

N.  Whereas the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which Saudi Arabia ratified in 2009, also guarantees the right of anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge to be brought promptly before a judge or other officer of the law, and to have a trial within a reasonable time or be released,

 

O.  Whereas the Saudi political and social system seriously discriminates women and Shia Muslims; whereas the homosexuality and transgenderism are widely seen as immoral and indecent activities, and the law punishes acts of homosexuality or cross-dressing with imprisonment, fines, corporal punishment, capital punishment, whipping and flogging,

 

P.  whereas people are still sentenced to death by stoning, and whereas hundreds of women have been stoned for adultery in recent years; whereas stoning is considered a form of torture;

 

1.  Calls on Saudi Arabia government to release Ali al-Nimr immediately and unconditionally; in the meantime, it must also ensure that Ali al-Nimr is protected from torture and other ill-treatment; requires that he should be given any medical attention he may require, as well as immediate and regular access to his family and the lawyers of his choice;

 

2.  Calls for the quashing of Ali al-Nimr conviction and prison sentence and for the dropping all charges against him;

 

3.  Condemns all forms of corporal punishment, torture and reaffirms its absolute opposition to the death penalty; calls on the Saudi authorities to establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, halt executions of persons convicted who were children at the time of the offence, and ensure a prompt and impartial investigation into all alleged acts of torture;

 

4.  Express its great concern about the practice of stoning still enacted in Saudi Arabia, and urges the Saudi Arabia government and all other national governments still enforcing stoning to immediately enact legislation banning it;

 

5.  Condemns all human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and urges the Saudi government to put an end to all human rights abuses and to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of expression, both online and offline, and the freedom of assembly, in line with Saudi Arabia’s international human rights obligations;

 

6.  Expresses its concern on the appointment of the ambassador to Saudi Arabia as chair of the Consultative Group to the President of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC); stresses the importance that such appointment may offer the possibility for the Saudi Arabia Government to demonstrate its good willingness to speed the reform of its justice system; recommend the adoption of a Penal Code that clearly defined and penalized criminal offences – including rape and the use of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment;

 

7.  Stresses that in sentencing a juvenile offender to death, Saudi Arabia has violated its obligations under international customary law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which it is a state party;

 

8.  Strongly condemns any form of censorship to the freedom of expression and recalls that the freedom of expression is a fundamental right of human dignity;

 

9.  Encourage Saudi Arabia to sign and ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which entered into force in 1976. Article 6 of this covenant states 'every human being has the inherent right of life';

 

10.  Calls on the Member States, the European External Action Service and the Commission to support civil society groups and individuals defending human rights in Saudi Arabia, including through the arrangement of prison visits, trial monitoring and public statements;

 

11.  Underlines that all human right abuses and persistence of such situations may threats bilateral EU-Saudi Arabia cooperation or agreement;

 

12.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Secretary-General of the Centre for National Dialogue of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, H.M. King Salmān bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Saʿūd and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.