Saudi Arabia Death Sentences: Two Qatif Shia Activists Executed

Saudi Arabia Executes Two Shia Activists from Qatif

Shiite News: Saudi Arabia has executed two Shia citizens of the Eastern Province, Fazl Safwani and Jawad Qariris, who had participated in the 2011 protests in Qatif. The detention of one of them had already been declared arbitrary and unlawful by a United Nations-linked working group.

The Saudi Ministry of Interior has claimed that both were given discretionary death sentences on charges of membership in a foreign terrorist organization, firing at security forces, possessing weapons, and financial support, whereas the two Shia activists had been arrested on the charge of participating in the 2011 and 2012 protests.

According to human rights organizations, Jawad Qariris was only 14 to 15 years old at the time of those protests. These organizations have also documented incidents of obtaining confessions from them through torture, solitary confinement, and coercion. The Saudi Supreme Court had annulled their death sentences in late 2024; however, after a retrial, the death sentence was again pronounced.

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According to figures from human rights organizations, at least 209 individuals have been executed in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the current year, while Saudi authorities have reported carrying out five more executions on 11, 12, and 14 November.