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Mustafa al-Darwish: Saudi Arabia executes man over teen protests

danieldemol

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
'Saudi Arabia has executed a man for offences rights groups say he allegedly committed while under the age of 18.

Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish was arrested in May 2015 and charged with protest-related offences, many of which occurred when he was 17. He was executed on Tuesday in Dammam, a statement from the Ministry of Interior said...

...
“The execution of Mustafa al-Darwish once again shows that the Kingdom’s claim to have eliminated capital punishment for childhood crimes is not true,” anti-death penalty and human rights group Reprieve said in a statement.

Saudi authorities said last year that they would stop sentencing to death people who committed crimes while minors, who would instead serve up to 10 years in juvenile detention, and would apply this retroactively.

However, the March 2020 royal decree was never reported by state media nor published in the official gazette as would be normal practice. The state-backed Human Rights Commission told Reuters in February that the ban only applied to a lesser category of offence under Islamic law known as “ta’zeer.”

Darwish was convicted for “ta’zeer” offences.'

Source: Saudi Arabia executes Mustafa al-Darwish over teenage protests

Personally I think that people should not be put to death where they can be safely isolated. Doing so seems no different to executing a Prisoner of War to me. And even though riots may cause harm, is mere riot enough to warrant a death sentence? To me it all seems too harsh.

In my opinion
 

Dan From Smithville

What we've got here is failure to communicate.
Staff member
Premium Member
'Saudi Arabia has executed a man for offences rights groups say he allegedly committed while under the age of 18.

Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish was arrested in May 2015 and charged with protest-related offences, many of which occurred when he was 17. He was executed on Tuesday in Dammam, a statement from the Ministry of Interior said...

...
“The execution of Mustafa al-Darwish once again shows that the Kingdom’s claim to have eliminated capital punishment for childhood crimes is not true,” anti-death penalty and human rights group Reprieve said in a statement.

Saudi authorities said last year that they would stop sentencing to death people who committed crimes while minors, who would instead serve up to 10 years in juvenile detention, and would apply this retroactively.

However, the March 2020 royal decree was never reported by state media nor published in the official gazette as would be normal practice. The state-backed Human Rights Commission told Reuters in February that the ban only applied to a lesser category of offence under Islamic law known as “ta’zeer.”

Darwish was convicted for “ta’zeer” offences.'

Source: Saudi Arabia executes Mustafa al-Darwish over teenage protests

Personally I think that people should not be put to death where they can be safely isolated. Doing so seems no different to executing a Prisoner of War to me. And even though riots may cause harm, is mere riot enough to warrant a death sentence? To me it all seems too harsh.

In my opinion
All I have seen is that he attended anti-government protests while a minor. There are no other particulars and no indication of additional criminal activity beyond that. Execution is an outrageous punishment for attending a protest in my opinion.
 

epronovost

Well-Known Member
All I have seen is that he attended anti-government protests while a minor. There are no other particulars and no indication of additional criminal activity beyond that. Execution is an outrageous punishment for attending a protest in my opinion.

Of course it's outrageous, but Saudi Arabia is a cruel dictatorship. Executing and jailing protestors is common.
 

Glaurung

Denizen of Niflheim
And even though riots may cause harm, is mere riot enough to warrant a death sentence? To me it all seems too harsh.
If I were the absolute monarch of a theocratic dictatorship, I would most likely answer in the affirmative. To protest the government is to protest the king, which is treason.
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
If I were the absolute monarch of a theocratic dictatorship, I would most likely answer in the affirmative. To protest the government is to protest the king, which is treason.
If I were a citizen in said theocratic dictatorship, I would try to kill you. It wouldn't make a difference anyway when speaking my mind and killing the king gets the same punishment.
 

Glaurung

Denizen of Niflheim
If I were a citizen in said theocratic dictatorship, I would try to kill you. It wouldn't make a difference anyway when speaking my mind and killing the king gets the same punishment.
Unlikely. If you are like most people would you would do what most who live in dictatorships do. You would keep your head down and do as you are told. The romantic image of the people rising up and overthrowing the authoritarian regime which oppresses them is (for the most part) a fantasy.

In any case my point is that Saudi Arabia is a Wahhabist theocracy with an absolute monarchy. Of course it is going to behave in ways that are brutal by the standards of liberal democracy. I am not actually voicing support for their actions so much as I am making the point that their actions are par the course for the type of regime that Saudi Arabia is.
 
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Heyo

Veteran Member
In any case my point is that Saudi Arabia is a Wahhabist theocracy with an absolute monarchy. Of course it is going to behave in ways that are brutal by the standards of liberal democracy.
And of course the liberal western democracies will react as they always do, like with Russia and impose sanctions.
Wait ...
 

Dan From Smithville

What we've got here is failure to communicate.
Staff member
Premium Member
Of course it's outrageous, but Saudi Arabia is a cruel dictatorship. Executing and jailing protestors is common.
They should be more like us. Here you can paint your face, put on a set of horns and storm the Capital Building in a mindless insurrection with seemingly very little consequences.
 
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