HRW: 14 Shiites at Imminent Risk of Execution in Saudi Arabia

Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that 14 Shiite Saudi citizens are at imminent risk of execution after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld their death sentences in mid-July following an “unfair trial” over protest-related charges.


In a Thursday report, HRW cited the families of the 14 men as saying that they were transferred from Dammam to Riyadh’s Ha’ir prison on July 15 without any explanation.

Some of the defendants have been kept in solitary confinement without any contact with the outside world, the report said, according to Press TV.

The 14 were among 24 defendants in a mass trial known as the “Qatif 24” case. In June 2016, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced the Shiite men to death.

The defendants were convicted based on confessions they later repudiated in court. They said the confessions were made under torture.

Saudi media claim that the 24 men were members of a “terrorism cell,” which targeted security forces.
 (Tasnim)
10/8/17