14-year-old boy faces execution in Saudi Arabia despite international treaty News
14-year-old boy faces execution in Saudi Arabia despite international treaty

[JURIST] After what Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] has called a flawed trial [HRW report], a 14-year-old boy is facing execution in Saudi Arabia after his conviction for the murder of a young child. The three-year-old victim was found dead with numerous stab wounds in a park in the eastern city of Dammam last year. According to the HRW report, the young man believed to be responsible for her death had "no legal assistance or representation during interrogation, detention and trial. Press and police accounts also throws into question his psychological stability and his ability to participate in his own defence." In a letter [text] to Saudi King Abdullah, Human Rights Watch urged the leader to uphold the country’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) [text] to protect young offenders and due process by commuting the death sentence. According to Article 37 [text] of the CRC, states party to the treaty shall ensure that "Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age." The Mail and Guardian has more.