In the wake of mass executions in Saudi Arabia last month, international press and human rights organizations are bringing attention to the cases of three youth activists sentenced to death, two slated to die by beheading and crucifixion. All are members of the Shia minority who participated in peaceful protests demanding human rights for all Saudis.
Following his peaceful participation in protests during the Arab Spring, Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr was arrested on February 14, 2012, at age 17, after being intentionally run over by a police car. On May 27, 2014, he was sentenced to death by beheading and crucifixion.
Dawood Hussain Almarhoon was first arrested on May 2012, at age 17, for protesting the government, but was released on the same day. When he did not cooperate with officials who wanted him to spy on other activists, he was re-arrested on May 23 and later sentenced to death on October 27, 2014.
Abdullah Al-Zaher was arrested at age 15 in March of 2013, after being shot at by Saudi security forces. During apprehension, he was violently attacked until he fell to the ground bleeding. He was then forced to sign a paper without reading it or consulting with his family during his interrogation. Al-Zaher was sentenced to death by beheading and crucifixion in September 2015.
It is unconscionable that – even in the face of such a universally abhorrent action as condemning juveniles to death – the United States government still refuses to impose legally mandated sanctions against the Saudi government for their persecution of religious minorities.
Join us in calling on the leading Presidential candidates to commit to imposing sanctions against the Saudi government for their human rights abuses and to re-examine the toxic U.S.-Saudi relationship once they are in office! Learn more here.
We, the undersigned, call on candidates for President of the United States to pledge to re-examine the toxic U.S.-Saudi relationship once in office and to immediately impose sanctions against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to their systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedoms. These sanctions are long overdue and mandated by law, yet year after year, the State Department has granted a waiver to Saudi Arabia despite the horrifying human rights abuses perpetrated by the Saudi government. In the wake of the recent beheadings of 47 people, and the imposition of death sentences against 3 Shia youth, the U.S. government can no longer give Saudi Arabia a free pass for religious persecution.
