Saudi Arabia plans to execute Shia youths on charges UN deems 'arbitrary'

Saudi Arabia is planning to execute five young Saudi Shia citizens and one Shia businessman, facing charges that the United Nations deems arbitrary and that activists and legal experts say are tinged with sectarianism. All six face the death penalty, raising international concerns about Saudi Arabia's human rights record. This situation underscores the ongoing tensions and discrimination faced by the Shia minority in the Kingdom.

The five young Shia men were all minors when they participated in peaceful demonstrations in Qatif, in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, in 2011 and 2012. They also attended the funerals of Shia citizens killed by Saudi security forces or police for participating in demonstrations. Abdullah al-Derazi, Jalal al-Labbad, Youssef Muhammad al-Muhanna al-Manasif, Jawad Abdullah Qureiris, and Hassan Zaki al-Faraj have all been charged with terrorism offences, with at least one charged under a 2017 counter-terrorism law introduced by then-newly appointed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which rights groups have called "vague." These charges and the application of the counter-terrorism law highlight the Saudi government's crackdown on dissent.

The death sentences of al-Derazi and al-Labbad have been confirmed. Al-Manasif, Qureiris, and al-Faraj are undergoing retrials, but Middle East Eye understands that the Saudi public prosecutor is still seeking the death penalty. Hearings are ongoing, and the final outcome remains unknown. Businessman Saud al-Faraj also participated in the 2011 and 2012 demonstrations protesting the Saudi Arabian kingdom's continued mistreatment of its Shia minority during the first wave of the so-called Arab Spring, and attended some of the funerals of those killed by the Saudi state. His involvement in these protests has made him a target of the Saudi authorities.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention - made up of independent human rights experts - concluded on 18 December that the young Shia men were arbitrarily detained, and that their death sentences were also arbitrary. The UN panel reached the same conclusion in al-Faraj's case. The working group had communicated with Saudi authorities about the cases of the five minors on 17 July 2023. On 13 September, the Saudi Human Rights Commission - ostensibly independent of the state, but effectively part of it - replied to the working group. Sources familiar with the text told Middle East Eye that the reply, which was 30 pages long, did not rebut any of the allegations, and consisted mostly of interpretations of Saudi Arabian law. The lack of substantive response from the Saudi authorities raises serious questions about their commitment to human rights.

Farah al-Saïd, a human rights officer at MENA Rights Group, told Middle East Eye: "Together, these cases constitute the first time the UN has made a statement indicating that there is systematic discrimination against Shias in the framework of the death penalty." Al-Saïd stated: "The UN is becoming more vocal on this, which is groundbreaking." Duaa Dhaini, a researcher and advocacy assistant at the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR), said that Saudi Arabia has already carried out 45 executions in 2025, with two of those executed being from the kingdom's Shia minority. Dhaini spoke of a growing atmosphere of oppression in Saudi Arabia, even as Mohammed bin Salman pursues high-profile measures designed to show the West that the kingdom is "opening up." These executions contradict the narrative of reform that the Saudi government is trying to promote.

Numerous international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW), have condemned the "countless abuses" that have taken place under the crown prince's rule. The UN and other monitoring bodies are often only made aware of cases involving civilians detained in Saudi Arabia after the suspects have been executed. Dhaini stated: "Trials are held in secret. They threaten families and civil society in Saudi Arabia." This fear means that no one will speak out, so people are arrested, tried, sentenced, and executed without anyone knowing. Dhaini told Middle East Eye: "Even the families don't know when the executions are carried out." The lack of transparency and due process in these cases is deeply concerning.

Between January 2016 and February 2024, ESOHR tracked 229 executions carried out by Saudi Arabia, following verdicts made by specialised courts and resulting in mass executions. Of those executed, 93 were from Qatif, in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. While the targeted population from Qatif accounts for around 40 percent of executions, the city's population is less than two percent of Saudi Arabia's population. Abdullah al-Derazi was 16 years old when he participated in demonstrations in Qatif, which were held in the wake of the Arab Spring to protest against the way Saudi Arabia treats its Shia minority. This disproportionate targeting of the Shia community highlights the systemic discrimination they face.

In December 2012, he attended the funeral of Ahmed Matar, a Shia citizen who, like others at the time, had been killed by Saudi police and security forces. On 27 August 2014, members of the Tarout Island police station severely beat al-Derazi, who was 18 years old at the time, before arresting him on the streets of Qatif. He was detained and interrogated at the Tarout police station for three months before being transferred to Dammam prison, which is run by Mabahith, the Saudi secret police. His family did not know where he was, and he was unable to communicate with the outside world. According to the UN panel's verdict, he "was held in solitary confinement for approximately six months, during which he was subjected to beatings, cigarette burns, and psychological torture." The details of al-Derazi's arrest and detention illustrate the brutal tactics used by Saudi authorities against Shia activists.

On 20 August 2017, al-Derazi began to be tried at Saudi Arabia's Specialized Criminal Court, which tries terror suspects and human rights activists. It is in this court that Saudi Arabians have been sentenced to death for tweets. Al-Derazi was assigned a state-appointed lawyer after his trial began. He told the judge that he had been tortured, but this was not investigated, and he was sentenced to death in February 2018, a verdict that was upheld in August 2022. Like al-Derazi, al-Labbad, al-Manasif, Qureiris, and al-Faraj have also been tortured by Saudi authorities. This torture included beatings, electric shocks to various parts of the body, waterboarding, being tied to a chair and beaten until they lost consciousness, and being stamped on with military boots. The five young Shia men are currently being held in Dammam prison, which is run by Mabahith. The widespread use of torture to extract confessions raises serious questions about the fairness of the trials.

Businessman Saud al-Faraj, born in 1980, also participated in demonstrations in eastern Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012, protesting the Saudi Arabian kingdom's treatment of its Shia minority, who are often viewed as internal enemies by the kingdom's authorities. In November 2019, government authorities asked him to cooperate with them, but he refused this request. Two weeks later, government forces raided one of al-Faraj's company's warehouses, confiscating construction equipment, the UN reported. Then, on 2 December 2019, the businessman and his family returned home to find tanks on their street. All the doors to their house had been shot at, and the house had been ransacked. Saudi authorities said that they had found explosives and heavy weapons in the house, but provided no physical evidence. These actions against al-Faraj suggest a pattern of harassment and intimidation by the Saudi government.

Al-Faraj and his family moved to one of his warehouses, but weeks later, this warehouse was raided, and the Shia businessman was brutally beaten and arrested. Since then, al-Faraj has been subjected to torture, sexual harassment, threats against his family, and forced to write a false confession. He has been held in solitary confinement and charged with a range of "terrorism" offences. He remains in Dammam prison and still faces the death penalty. The ongoing mistreatment of al-Faraj highlights the vulnerability of Shia citizens in Saudi Arabia to arbitrary arrest, torture, and unfair trials.