Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

While the Saudi government has encouraged a culture of forgiveness, it continued to
stop short of abolishing the death penalty or fundamentally reforming its application.
The Saudi government has always qualified its acceptance of international treaties
by saying that it accepts them in so far as they do not contradict Sharia law. And its
position on the death penalty remains governed by its adherence to its
understanding of Sharia law. There remains overwhelming public support for the
death penalty.
In 2010 Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan national sentenced to death in 2007 for the
killing of a baby in her care, had her final appeal rejected. The EU and our Embassy
raised the issue with the Saudi government. The Saudi government argued that the
case rests with the victim’s family who have a private right under Sharia law to
demand her execution. High level Saudi efforts to encourage the family to show
clemency were continuing at the end of 2010. But there remains very little debate in
Saudi society about the application of the death penalty. While maintaining our clear
and principled opposition to the death penalty in all cases, our efforts were
particularly focused on the debate around the age of legal responsibility. Under the
Saudi interpretation of Sharia law, children become legally responsible at the age of
puberty. Saudi Arabia is one of five states to execute minors. While there is almost
no public discussion of the principle of the death penalty, there is debate about
protecting children’s rights; the Shura Council has debated the issue of setting a
minimum age for marriage and there has been discussion about setting an age of
adulthood with regard to human trafficking. By engaging in and encouraging this
debate, we are working to see the establishment of a specific age of legal
responsibility.
Torture and other ill treatment
There were a number of cases of individuals alleging mistreatment at the hands of
Saudi authorities. In counter-terrorism cases, we assess that the Saudi policy of
rehabilitation actually prevents torture and other ill treatment, because such
treatment would further radicalise individuals and would undermine the work to
convince the detainees that the government has religious legitimacy. In cases of
petty crime and immigration offences, sporadic mistreatment still occurs.
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