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.

Amnesty International recently learned that 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 “confess”. The court did not investigate their claims of torture and other ill-treatment.

By sentencing the two men to death, Saudi authorities have reneged on their own promises to end the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age.

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 recorded in court documents reviewed by Amnesty International, including severe beatings, sexual violence and electrocution. Saudi Arabia must immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Yours sincerely,