Saudi Arabia: 'Widespread violations of basic human rights'

Public execution in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system violates the most basic international human rights standards and detainees routinely face systematic violations of due process and fair trial rights. Since 2008, authorities have detained scores of men and women for expressing their peaceful political and religious opinions under vague and politicized charges.

One of the central problems associated with Saudi Arabia’s justice system stems from the fact that it does not have a promulgated criminal (penal) code. As a result, citizens and residents have no way of knowing with any precision what constitutes a criminal offence and judges are free to criminalize acts in accordance with their interpretations of Islamic law and prophetic traditions – the two agreed-upon sources of Shariah law. Previous court rulings do not bind Saudi judges, and there is little evidence to suggest that judges seek to apply consistency in sentencing for similar crimes. The absence of a clear criminal code allows judges to enforce seemingly arbitrary charges against individuals including “harming the reputation of the Kingdom”, “establishing contact with outside organizations”, and “parental disobedience.”

Saudi Arabia has failed to implement the recommendation it accepted during the previous UPR in 2009 to “amend its criminal procedural code to bring it in line with international human rights standards and conduct a systematic campaign among Saudi Arabian judges to apply this amended Code”. Saudi Arabia promulgated a Law of Criminal Procedure in 2002, but it does not permit detainees to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court and fails to guarantee access to legal counsel in a timely manner. The code also permits pre-trial detention of up to six months without judicial review and fails to make statements obtained under duress inadmissible in court. Judges routinely ignore provisions of the Law of Criminal Procedure.

In 2008, Saudi Arabia set up the Specialized Criminal Court to try terrorism cases, but authorities have increasingly used the court to prosecute peaceful dissidents on politicized charges and in proceedings that violate the right to a fair trial. Persons on trial are frequently denied the right to consult lawyers, and proceedings are closed to the public.

Saudi courts impose the death penalty after patently unfair trials in violation of international law, and impose corporal punishment in the form of public flogging, which is inherently cruel and degrading.

Human Rights Watch has documented numerous examples of law enforcement officials subjecting suspects to torture or other ill-treatment, including prolonged solitary confinement. Authorities often do not inform individuals of the crime of which they are accused or the evidence supporting the accusation. An accused person often does not have access to a lawyer and waits excessive periods of time before trial, where she or he is often not permitted by the court to examine witnesses or evidence and present a legal defence.

Contrary to the recommendation it accepted during its previous UPR in 2009 to “amend the Code of Criminal Practice to stipulate that only individuals aged over 18 will be tried as adults,” Saudi Arabia’s juvenile justice system fails to protect the rights of juvenile defenders. While Saudi Arabia set the age of criminal responsibility at 18 in 2008, judges retain discretionary power to try and sentence minors who have reached the age of puberty for capital crimes. Judges continue to sentence to death persons for offenses committed while under age 18. Saudi Arabia is one of just three countries globally that continues to execute juvenile offenders.

Click here to read the full article

Source: Human Rights Watch, September 30, 2013