By Staff, Agencies

A young man faces imminent execution in Saudi Arabia for attending protests and funerals when he was aged 15 to 17, say human rights groups, in the latest example of the kingdom’s surging use of the death penalty for non-violent crimes.

Youssef al-Manasif was arrested in 2017 and accused of crimes including joining demonstrations for religious freedom by the protesters and attending funerals that the Saudi authorities deem to be protests. He was convicted and sentenced to death by the specialized criminal court, a secretive tribunal set up for terrorism-related cases.

The charity Reprieve says Manasif was tortured and coerced into signing a false confession and only met his state-appointed lawyer for the first time in 2022 - five years after his arrest.

Manasif’s death sentence has now reportedly been upheld by the Saudi supreme court, which was likely to be his last hope of avoiding execution.

His family have not spoken in public about the case and could face harassment or arrest if they do so. “There is nothing they can do now but wait,” said Duaa Dhainy, a consultant for Reprieve and the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights.

Saudi Arabia has seen what activists describe as a “horrifying” surge in executions under the rule of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Last year saw a record 356 people put to death in the country.

At least 17 people, who were children at the time of their alleged “offences”, have been executed in Saudi Arabia since 2015, according to Reprieve.

Saudi Arabia issued a royal decree abolishing the death penalty for children in 2020, stating that individuals would not be sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors.

However, it has since upheld the death penalty in a number of cases involving child defendants. In April, it executed Ali al-Subaiti, along with his uncle, Mustafa al-Subaiti, for non-lethal offences committed when he was 12 years old.

The UN’s independent human rights experts have previously expressed concerns about Manasif’s case. It said Saudi Arabia should immediately halt planned executions of people convicted of offences allegedly committed when they were under 18.

“They are using execution as a tool to show how powerful they are and how they can threaten anyone who does not follow their rules,” Dhainy said of the Saudi regime. “We think he should be treated as a minor and not sentenced to death as his charges relate to when he was under 18.”

Human Rights Watch said executing Manasif for a non-violent crime committed as a minor would be “an unconscionable new low”.