Saudi teenager faces execution for alleged crimes committed as a child
ISTANBUL - Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against a teenager accused of crimes he allegedly committed as a minor, drawing fire from rights groups who say his execution would violate international law.
Murtaja Qureiris, 18, faces a raft of charges stemming from his participation in anti-government protests, including some that date back to when he was just 10 years old.
Prosecutors also accuse Qureiris, a member of the kingdom's Shiite Muslim minority, of joining a "terrorist organization" and throwing Molotov cocktails at a police station. Authorities detained Qureiris in 2014 and have held him for more than four years, rights advocates say.
Amnesty International, a London-based rights group, confirmed last week that Saudi prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Qureiris, whose first trial session was held in August.
The confirmation followed a report by CNN that included videos of Qureiris at demonstrations in Saudi Arabia's restive Qatif province.
"There should be no doubt that the Saudi Arabian authorities are ready to go to any length to crack down on dissent against their own citizens, including by resorting to the death penalty for men who were merely boys at the time of their arrest," Amnesty International's Middle East Research Director Lynn Maalouf said in a statement.
"It is appalling that Murtaja Qureiris is facing execution for offenses that include taking part in protests while he was just 10 years old," Maalouf said. "The Saudi Arabian authorities have a chilling track record of using the death penalty as a weapon to crush political dissent and punish anti-government protesters - including children - from the country's persecuted Shia minority."
Saudi Arabia executed 37 people in a single day in April, including at least three of whom were minors, according to rights groups. It is one of a handful of countries that routinely applies the death penalty, often by beheading those condemned to death.