The Saudi Royal Family have revoked the punishment of execution for crimes committed by children. Formerly the Royal Family could decree that a person who had committed a crime as a child could be executed for the crime, a practice that has long been seen considered unpalatable by the West.
The announcement my by the Kingdom’s human rights commissioner, comes just two days after the Saudi Royal Family announced they would ban public floggings.
The Royal decree which brings the Kingdom into compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – states that capital punishment will no longer be used for offences carried out by minors.
Commentator’s have observed that relatively few people are executed in Saudi Arabia for crimes they committed as children, from 184 beheadings and crucifixions carried out in the Kingdom in 2019, only one case involved a man convicted of a crime committed when he was a still a child.
This latest update to the law is part of Mohammed bin Salman’s raft of legislative modernisation, which have included allowing women to drive and ending public floggings.
