The specialized criminal court on Sunday reduced Ali al-Nimr’s sentence to ten years in prison, according to human rights group Reprieve.
His father, Mohammed al-Nimr, who attended the hearing in Riyadh, said his son, now 26, should be released in eight or nine months after more than nine years. ” of his youth and part of his childhood “in prison. .
The nephew of Nimr al-Nimr executive cleric Ali al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 at the age of 17 for taking part in protests calling for social and political reforms in Qatif province, Saudi Arabia. He was sentenced to death.
He was later convicted by a court on charges such as belonging to a terrorist cell, attacking police with Molotov cocktails, inciting and fueling sectarianism, according to state media.
Anyone receiving a death sentence after being convicted of crimes he committed as a minor would receive a maximum of ten years in prison in a juvenile detention center, according to a statement from the Human Rights Commission (HRC). ), supported by the weather state.
“My family and I are happy. I hope all those arrested in my country and elsewhere (are) released,” his father told CNN after Sunday’s sentencing. However, he explained that he would like his son to be acquitted by the judges “because he is actually innocent.”
“His health is good, but he has been in prison for more than nine years. He spent more than seven years with the threat of execution hanging in his head every day, every hour and every minute. After the verdict, he was able to breathe. As of today, he is waiting for freedom, “his father added.
When the royal decree was announced last April, it was hoped it could save several men from the country’s Shiite minority, who allegedly committed crimes as minors, from the death penalty. Ali al-Nimr is the highlight, with experts from the United Nations and human rights organizations previously urging the Saudi authorities to overturn his death penalty.
“It is strange to talk about progress when a young man has spent almost a decade on death row to attend a peaceful demonstration, but today’s sentence is clearly a positive step. Ali al-Nimr should now be released in late December. “But the real change These are not some well-known cases; it means making sure no one is ever sentenced to death for a child” crime “in Saudi Arabia,” said Reprieve director , Maya Foa.
The organization urged the royal decree to be urgently applied to the cases of other young people still facing the death penalty, including Abdullah al-Zaher, Dawood al-Marhoon and Mohammed al-Faraj.