Abdullah al-Derazi and Jalal Labbad are at risk of imminent execution after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court secretly upheld their death sentences in secret, without notifying their families or lawyers. Both young men were under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged crimes and were sentenced for crimes related to their participation in anti-government protests after grossly unfair trials that primarily relied on torture-tainted confessions. The young men have exhausted all domestic legal remedies and could now be put to death at any moment if King Salman ratifies their death sentences.
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- Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
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CONTACT iNFORMATION:
King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court, Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: +961 11 403 3125
Twitter: @KingSalman
Embassy of Saudi Arabia in the United States
Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
601 Jamal Khashoggi Wy, Washington, DC 20037
Phone: (202) 342-3800
Email: [email protected]
SAMPLE LETTER:
Your Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,
I am deeply distressed that two young men, Abdullah al-Derazi and Jalal Labbad, are at imminent risk of execution and will be put to death should you ratify their death sentences.
Both young men were under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged crimes. Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court secretly upheld the death sentences of Abdullah al-Derazi and Jalal Labbad after the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) convicted them of terrorism-related changes over their participation in protests against the government’s treatment of the Shi’a minority in the country. Both men were sentenced in grossly unfair trials that lacked procedural safeguards. They had no access to legal representation during their pre-trial detention and told the court that they were tortured to “which the court did not investigate. With these sentences, authorities have reneged on their own promises to end the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons below eighteen.
I urge you not to ratify the death sentences of Abdullah al-Derazi and Jalal Abbad, and to call on the competent authorities to quash their convictions and order a fair retrial without recourse to the death penalty. Furthermore, I call on you to order a prompt, impartial, independent, and effective investigation into the defendants’ claims of torture and ill-treatment, including severe beatings, sexual violence, and .
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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