en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Saudi_Arabia
4 corrections found
As of April 2020, minors under 18, who commit crimes will no longer face execution when they turn 18, and would instead face a maximum of 10 years in a juvenile detention facility.
Saudi Arabia's 2020 reform did not end the death penalty for all child offenders. It applied only to certain discretionary cases, while juveniles can still face execution for qisas and hudud offenses.
Full reasoning
This sentence overstates the 2020 reform. Credible human-rights monitors reported that the April 2020 royal order did not abolish execution for everyone who was under 18 at the time of the offense. Instead, it removed the death penalty only in certain ta'zir (discretionary) cases, while leaving children still exposed to execution in qisas and hudud cases.
Human Rights Watch wrote that child offenders convicted in hudud or qisas cases could still face the death penalty. Amnesty International likewise said the reform applied to cases not involving the counter-terror law and did not stop judges from imposing death sentences in hadd or qisas cases. So the article's blanket statement that minors "will no longer face execution" is incorrect.
2 sources
- Saudi Arabia: Partial Criminal Justice Revisions | Human Rights Watch
People convicted in hudud cases could still face flogging, and child offenders convicted in hudud or qisas cases could still face the death penalty.
- Saudi Arabia: Death penalty reform for minors falls short, and total abolition must now follow - Amnesty International
Following Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it plans to end the use of the death penalty against people below the age of 18 at the time of the crime in cases not involving the counter-terror law... It did not stop them from using the death penalty in cases of those who are convicted of hadd crimes... or crimes punishable by qisas.
69 in 2020
The 2020 execution total is wrong. Credible tallies put Saudi Arabia's 2020 executions at 27, not 69.
Full reasoning
The article's 2020 figure is inconsistent with major death-penalty datasets. Amnesty International's 2020 global death-penalty report recorded 27 executions in Saudi Arabia in 2020, describing that as an 85% drop from 184 in 2019. Amnesty repeated the same figure in multiple summaries, and its reporting notes that the Saudi Human Rights Commission also said there were 27 executions in 2020 (with Amnesty independently corroborating 25 of them).
So the claim that the 2020 total was 69 is incorrect; 69 appears to confuse 2020 with a later year's tally.
3 sources
- Death penalty 2020: Middle East and North Africa dominates list of world’s top executioners - Amnesty International
Iran (246+), Egypt (107+), Iraq (45+) and Saudi Arabia (27) accounted for 88% of all reported executions carried out worldwide in 2020, excluding China.
- Death penalty in 2020: Facts and figures - Amnesty International
Saudi Arabia decreased its tally by 85%, from 184 to 27.
- Death penalty in 2020: executions down a quarter - new report | Amnesty International UK
In Saudi Arabia, executions declined sharply from 184 in 2019 to 27 last year - the lowest number recorded by Amnesty since 2010.
The men executed included 37 Saudi nationals, some Yemenis and Syrians, and were allegedly convicted of several criminal offenses such as the murder of innocent men, women, and children, as per the official statement issued.
This sentence understates how many Saudis were in the March 2022 mass execution. Official and independent reports said the 81 executed men included 73 Saudis, 7 Yemenis, and 1 Syrian — not 37 Saudis total.
Full reasoning
The nationality breakdown in this sentence is incorrect. Reporting based on the Saudi government's own announcement said that the 81 men executed on 12 March 2022 included 73 Saudi nationals, 7 Yemenis, and 1 Syrian.
Human Rights Watch summarized the Saudi statement the same way, noting that the 81 executed included seven Yemenis and one Syrian. Contemporary news reports quoting the Saudi Press Agency likewise stated that 73 of the 81 were Saudis. That means the article's statement that the group included 37 Saudi nationals is wrong; 37 appears to refer to a subgroup of Saudi defendants discussed elsewhere, not the full nationality count of the 81 men executed.
3 sources
- 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Saudi Arabia | U.S. Department of State
On March 12, the government executed 81 men, including seven Yemenis and one Syrian, in the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom’s history.
- Saudi Arabia: Mass Execution of 81 Men | Human Rights Watch
Those executed included seven Yemenis and one Syrian, it said.
- Saudi Arabia executes 81 people for terrorism-related offences | The National
Of the 81 people put to death, 73 were Saudis, seven were Yemeni and one was Syrian.
On 15 December 2013, another Saudi citizen, Aqil Al-Faraj, was arrested due to a discrepancy in the chassis number of the vehicle he was driving.
The arrest date is wrong. UN documentation says Aqil bin Hassan Al-Faraj was arrested on 25 December 2013, not 15 December 2013.
Full reasoning
The article gives the wrong arrest date for Aqil Al-Faraj. A 2026 OHCHR special-procedures communication on his case states that Mr. Aqil bin Hassan Al-Faraj was arrested on 25 December 2013 at a checkpoint while driving a vehicle with an allegedly altered chassis number.
That UN description matches the rest of the article's sentence about the basis for the arrest, but contradicts the date. So the claim that he was arrested on 15 December 2013 is incorrect by ten days.
1 source
- OHCHR Special Procedures communication concerning Aqil bin Hassan Al-Faraj
On 25 December 2013, Mr. Aqil bin Hassan Al-Faraj was arrested at a checkpoint in the Al Nasera neighborhood in Al-Qatif, Saudi Arabia, while driving a vehicle found to have an allegedly altered chassis number.