MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the death in Saudi Arabia, notably the cases of Mustafa Hashem Al Darwish and Abdullah Al Howaiti
6.7.2021 - (2021/2787(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 144 of the Rules of Procedure
Katalin Cseh, Petras Auštrevičius, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Dita Charanzová, Olivier Chastel, Vlad Gheorghe, Klemen Grošelj, Bernard Guetta, Svenja Hahn, Karin Karlsbro, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Karen Melchior, Javier Nart, Frédérique Ries, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Michal Šimečka, Nicolae Ştefănuță, Ramona Strugariu, Hilde Vautmans
on behalf of the Renew Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0392/2021
B9‑0394/2021
European Parliament resolution on the death in Saudi Arabia, notably the cases of Mustafa Hashem Al Darwish and Abdullah Al Howaiti
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous resolutions, in particular those of 7 October 2020 on Ethiopian migrants in detention centres in Saudi Arabia, of 14 February 2019 on women’s rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, of 25 October 2018 on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, of 12 February 2015 on the case of Mr Raif Badawi of 8 October 2015 on the case of Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr, of 31 May 2018 on the situation of women’s rights defenders in Saudi Arabia and of 11 March 2014 on Saudi Arabia, its relations with the EU and its role in the Middle East and North Africa;
- having regard to Saudi Arabia's criminal law and its 2018 Juveniles Act;
- having regard to its 2018 Universal Periodic Review;
- having regard to the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the Nelson Mandela Rules;
- having regard to article 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child of November 1989, to which Saudi Arabia is a party, on the prohibition of the death penalty for child defendants;
- having regard to the latest UNGA Resolution of 28 December 2020 on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty;
- having regard to the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty, on Torture and on Freedom of Expression,
- having regard to rule 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure,
- whereas the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia committed to abolishing the death penalty for all child offenders without exception since 2016, through new legal provisions confirmed in diplomatic statements; whereas such statements were made by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 2016 at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as in August 2018, declaring that "if the crime committed by the juvenile is punishable by death, the sentence shall be reduced to a term of not more than 10 years detention in the institution";
- whereas Saudi Arabia's 2018 Juvenile Law, promulgated by Royal Decree on 31 July 2018, states in article 15 that "if the crime committed by the juvenile is punishable by death, the sentence shall be reduced to a term of not more than 10 years detention in the institution"; whereas subsequently Saudi Arabia's 2018 Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council noted that it had made "remarkable progress in promoting respect for, protection of and fidelity to the rights of the child";
- whereas the Saudi Human Rights Commission, which is an integral part of the Saudi Government and whose Head is appointed by Royal Order of the King of Saudi Arabia, issued public statements confirming this position in April 2020, October 2020 and February 2021 to the UN Human Rights Council;
- whereas NGOs including Human Rights Watch and Reprieve noted that the local implementation of the new 2018 Juveniles Act included in fact broad derogations to execute child offenders in the cases of several offenses; whereas subsequently the Saudi Human Rights Commission publicly stated on 21 October 2020 that a new Royal Decree would clarify that the abolition of the death penalty for children "applies to all cases" and "entered into force immediately";
- whereas on 23 April 2019 Saudi authorities executed six child offenders, including Saeed Al Scafi, Salman Al Quraish, Abdul Aziz Al Sahawi, Abdul Karim Al Hawaj, Abdullah Al Asrih and Mujtaba Al Sweikat; whereas nine other child offenders are currently at risk of execution;
- whereas on 15 June 2021, Mustafa Al Darwish was executed for attending protests at the age of 17 in 2011; whereas the families of the defendants learned in the press that their child had been executed; whereas the defendant’s right to a fair trial was manifestly violated with "confessions" extracted under torture, no access to independent legal counsel, no independent medical examination on torture allegations and trial secrecy;
- Whereas Abdullah Al Howaiti was 14 when he was arrested at home and held 4 months incommunicado, after which he was tortured into "confessing" to participating in a robbery and killing a security officer; whereas during the hearings he told the judge that he had been tortured into confessing to the crime; whereas the prosecution also relied on DNA records placing him at the steering wheel of the getaway car, despite the fact that his DNA sample was taken after his arrest, invalidating identification as possible suspect; whereas he was sentenced to death at 17 on 30 October 2019, one year after the passing of the Juvenile Law which purported to prohibit the death penalty for child offenders; whereas he currently stands on death row; whereas the Supreme Court was reviewing his case as of June 2021;
- whereas Saudi Arabia carried out a total of at least 31 executions in the first half of 2021, and executed at least eight child offenders since first committing to abolishing the death penalty for child offenders;
- whereas only 4 countries still apply the death penalty for child offenders, namely Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Somalia’s Puntland; whereas after a sharp decline from 1996 to 2016 worldwide, the total number of executions has been increasing since 2016;
- whereas abuses are committed by Saudi authorities through the use of electronic surveillance technology according to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; whereas new controls on cyber-surveillance technology were introduced in the upgraded EU dual-use export control regulation of 2021;
- Condemns the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's ongoing execution of child offenders despite its alleged abolition of such executions; strongly deplores the latest execution of child offender Mustafa Hashem Al Darwish on 15 June 2021 for attending a protest, thereby violating its commitment to abolishing an inhumane and cruel punishment for children;
- Calls on Saudi Arabia to confirm that Abdullah Al Howaiti, Mohammed Al Faraj and all other child offenders currently on death row will not be executed and that "confessions" extracted under torture will be excluded from their cases, and that they will be granted a fair trial;
- Urges Saudi Arabia to truly abolish the death penalty for child offenders, regardless of the type of offence including ta'zir (offences with discretionary sentences), hudud (offences with predetermined sentences), and qisas (offences with retribution-based sentences) under which at least four child defendants are at risk of death sentences; calls on Saudi Arabia to publish its 2020 Royal Decree to provide full and retroactive protection to child offenders, as stated by Saudi authorities;
- Calls on Saudi Arabia to implement a moratorium on executions pending their abolition, and to proceed to an independent review of all cases in its criminal justice system involving death penalty for childhood crimes, or based on confessions extracted under torture, or lacking a fair trial, and to publish the review's findings; calls for an international and national dialogue on the remaining obstacles to abolishing the death penalty for all child offenders, paving the way for an abolition of the death penalty altogether in Saudi Arabia;
- Urges the EU delegation and the diplomatic missions of EU Member States in Saudi Arabia to urgently request to visit child inmates on death row;
- Urges the Council to suspend all EU exports of mass surveillance technology and other dual-use items to Saudi Arabia that can be used to facilitate internal repression and silence civil society; Stresses the particular responsibility of IT security companies as well as national intelligence services working in the EU and their moral and legal obligation to avoid being in a situation where their current or former staff assist Saudi Arabia in repressing its own population, by indirectly or directly working for Saudi authorities to quell internal dissent and freedom of speech;
- Strongly supports the application of the Global Human Rights Sanctions Mechanism (EU Magnitsky Act) against those responsible for grave human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi;
- Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, the UN Secretary General, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the UN Human Rights Council, H.M. King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.