Abdullah al-Derazi who was killed on Monday, becoming the second child offender to be executed by Saudi authorities in two months. (Photo taken from social media platforms)
For the second time in the past two months, Saudi Arabia has executed a young man who was a minor at the time of the crimes he had allegedly committed, Middle East Eye reported Tuesday.
Abdullah al-Derazi, was arrested in 2014 and brought to trial three years later in Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court, which deals with terrorism-related cases. The case brought against him is related to his involvement in anti-government protests, related to the treatment by the Saudi authorities of the Shia minority.
Saudi Arabia executed Derazi despite the country being a signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which forbids the use of the death penalty for individuals who were under the age of 18 when the offense was committed.
Derazi’s family was prevented from saying farewell to him and only learned of his execution in the media, according to the UK-based human rights organization, ALQST.
The young man was 17 years old when he was charged with "targeting security forces" and "throwing Molotov cocktails." Saudi Arabia's courts found him guilty and sentenced him to death in August 2018.
ALQST accused the authorities of holding Derazi in solitary confinement, where he was beaten by prison guards. “From the moment of his arrest over a decade ago to his grossly unfair and secretive trial, Derazi endured a relentless pattern of abuse at the hands of Saudi authorities - culminating in the cruellest violation: the denial of his right to life,” Nadyeen Abdulaziz, of ALQST, told MEE.
The activist likened his execution to that of Jalal Labbad, in August, also on charges related to protests he took part of when he was a child. She denounced the "contempt" of Saudi authorities for international law and appealed to "international scrutiny" on these violations.
According to the NGO, at least five other child offenders are at risk of execution by Saudi authorities.
The number of executions in Saudi Arabia reached a record level in 2024, according to a report published in August by Amnesty International.
The kingdom executed 345 people last year, the highest number ever recorded by the organization in over thirty years of monitoring. This trend continued in the first six months of 2025, during which 180 people have already been put to death, according to Amnesty, suggesting a new record may be set this year.
This practice goes against the statements of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who claimed in 2022 to have limited the use of the death penalty to homicide convictions only.
