Saudi Arabia's historic decision to end the death penalty for juvenile offenders

Ahmedabad. 27 April 2020, Monday

Saudi Arabia has a poor record on human rights. However in the last few years Prince Mohammed bin Salman has taken many good steps to improve this image of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has made historic decisions in this direction. Chomer is also being praised, including in India. The death penalty for juvenile offenders in Saudi Arabia has been abolished. Earlier, the Supreme Court had also overturned the flogging in public.

"Today is a very important day for Saudi Arabia. According to the royal decree, juvenile offenders will now be sent to custody instead of death or whipping. Even then, such offenders will be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years.

Saudi Arabia's decision will bring relief to six members of the Shia community who were sentenced to death. All of them are under 18 years of age. UN human rights activists appealed to Saudi Arabia last year to stop the executions. At the same time, the United Nations indicated that Saudi Arabia would soon decide on the death penalty.

It is worth mentioning that even before this, in the year 2018, Saudi allowed women to drive cars. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is said to be behind all these decisions. While 187 people were sentenced to death in the year 2019, 12 people have been sentenced to death so far this year.