Saudi Arabia may behead a disabled man for allegedly
taking part in protests, a UK human rights groups says, adding that
he has been subjected to torture that has worsened his medical
condition.
Munir Adam, 23, was arrested during protests in Saudi Arabia’s
Eastern Province back in 2012 when he was 18, a group of
international lawyers and investigators based in the UK called
Reprieve said in a statement.
The man has "impairments to both his sight and his hearing" that
resulted from a childhood accident, the organization said. His
medical records reportedly confirm the disability, and doctors
warned that further trauma "could worsen his injuries." However,
that apparently didn’t stop police from beating Munir so "badly"
that "he lost all hearing in one ear," Reprive said.
"Munir Adam’s appalling case illustrates how the Saudi
authorities are all too happy to subject the most vulnerable people
to the swordsman’s blade – including juveniles and people with
disabilities," Maya Foa, a director at Reprieve, said.
The Saudi Specialized Criminal Court reportedly sentenced the
man to death. According to the group’s statement, he wasn’t allowed
access to a lawyer and was forced to write his own defense.
Among the charges he faced was using his mobile phone to
organize protests. However, according to the group, the man said he
"had only signed statements under torture," as he is from a poor
family and has never had a mobile phone.
"Munir was arrested for allegedly attending protests, and
tortured into a ‘confession’ – he was beaten so badly that he lost
his hearing. It’s a scandal that Munir now faces beheading on the
basis of a bogus statement that he has since recanted," Foa
said.
The Specialized Criminal Court has also worked on the cases of
Dawood al-Marhoon, Ali al-Nimr, and Abdullah al-Zaher, who were all
handed death sentences as children for allegedly committing
offenses related to political protests.
Reprieve cited its 2015 report, which says that, "of those
identified as facing execution" in the kingdom, "some 72 percent
were sentenced to death for non-violent alleged crimes, while
torture and forced ‘confessions’ were common."
"Saudi Arabia’s close allies – including the UK – must urge the
Kingdom to release Munir, along with juveniles and others who were
sentenced to death for protesting," Foa added.
At least 158 death sentences were carried out in Saudi Arabia in
2015, the third most executions for any country, after Iran and
Pakistan, according to Amnesty International.
In October of this year, an AFP tally showed that the kingdom
had executed at least 134 people.