World

Saudi Arabia preparing to behead and crucify 21-year-old Shia activist

Al Nimr was arrested in 2012 at the age of 17 in the largely Shia province of Qatif

Web Desk September 22, 2015

Ali Mohammad al Nimr. PHOTO: GOLBALPOLITIK

After losing his final appeal, a young Saudi Arabian activist is due to be executed in Saudi Arabia, followed by the appalling mounting of his headless body on a crucifix for public display.

While news like this is not uncommon in Saudi Arabia, human rights' groups and Saudi critics are shocked by the nature of the execution as well as the weak case made against Ali Mohammad al Nimr.

Read: Amnesty protests 'staggering execution spree' in Iran

Accused of participation in anti-government demonstrations and possessing firearms, Al Nimr was arrested in 2012 at the age of seventeen in the largely Shia province of Qatif. Although Al Nimr repeatedly denied the latter charge, a confession was allegedly forced out of him after his arrest by means of torture.

Al Nimr spent a short time in a juvenile detention facility, from where he was moved to prison when he turned 18 and sentenced to death in 2014 according to Amnesty International.

Condemning the sentence, Maya Foa of the legal charity Reprieve said in a statement: “Ali was a vulnerable child when he was arrested and this ordeal began.

“His execution—based apparently on the authorities’ dislike for his uncle, and his involvement in anti-government protests—would violate international law and the most basic standards of decency. It must be stopped.”

US talk show host Bill Maher highlighted Al Nimr’s case on television saying: “If you haven’t used up all your heroism hashtagging for the clock kid, maybe do it for this guy,” referring to the recent case of a Muslim kid getting arrested for inventing a clock.

Read: Selection of Saudia Arabia to head UN human rights panel sparks anger

Many have taken to the social media to condemn Al Nimr’s sentence and the recent appointment of Saudi Arabian ambassador to lead an influential human rights panel has also come under heavy criticism.

If you haven't used up all your heroism on the clock kid, try hashtagging #AliMohammedAlNimr http://t.co/yVRNgkNdNz
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) September 19, 2015

https://twitter.com/sharmeenochinoy/status/645197738053922816

Saudi Arabia's decision to execute 21 year old Ali Al Nimr, for "political resistance" needs consideration! It paints Saudia in bad light!
— Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNj) September 22, 2015

@ZenaEsia @QatifRev what bloody travesty of human rights. Wonder what kind of deal b/w Saudis & West to secure this reward
— TerracottaWarrior (@SyedKhawarmehdi) September 20, 2015

@amnestygulf This is disgusting! I pray that REAL Human justice be done!
— James Byers (@JamesByersMusic) September 18, 2015

This article originally appeared on QUARTZ

COMMENTS (37)

Carey | 9 years ago | Reply You know what they say about 2 wrongs not making a right? regardless of the atrocities committed by other nations, the Saudi authorities should not do this, he was 17 when he was arrested! If torture whilst in police or prison is used, there is no "process of law". Anywhere.

Guest | 9 years ago | Reply The matter of the moment is does this boy deserve to die like this or not regardless who is siding with or against him. I believe he should not as a little bit of human is still living somewhere inside me.

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Infidel | 9 years ago | Reply @Adnan: The same level of STUPIDITY you posses

shah | 9 years ago | Reply @Azhar Hassan: How Can You Conclude That He Is Being Hanged Just Because He Is Shia @kashif: Keep Dreaming.Idiots Like You Just Don't Have A Clue How Saudi State and Society Works @Last Word: Because United States Itself Has Committed Gross Human Rights Violations

C M Naim | 9 years ago | Reply Does the writer even know what a crucifix is?

Amanpur | 9 years ago | Reply There is going to be tit for tat retaliation by Iran with hanging of Sunni muslims.

Mukul | 9 years ago | Reply Folks, there is reason the country is appropriately known as Saudi Barbaria.

Roshan | 9 years ago | Reply Well its appaling that a country with the most sacred place cannot have even a bit of sympathy left . This is one of the reason our religion is targetted by others each and everyday . Shame

ali | 9 years ago | Reply Iran does it all the time to its vulnerable and persecuted Sunni minority, and no media notices that

kashif | 9 years ago | Reply Saudi Arabia is standing on weak legs...and they're about to give.

Sandhu | 9 years ago | Reply @Last Word: So, it's USA's fault here, not Saudi Arabia's? Really, can you be that biased that you lose all perspective! How is this issue even related to the USA in any way? People like you try to forcibly drag the US into every issue.

Muhammad Khalid | 9 years ago | Reply @Lt Col Imtiaz Alam (retd): Well said Imtiaz Sahib You are absoulutely right

Milind | 9 years ago | Reply @Lt Col Imtiaz Alam (retd): Looks like some Pakistanis still look up to Saudi Arabia as role model after the war-in-Yemen fiasco... Chances are you would be locked up like Zaid Hamid, if you visit that country for umrah... Don't get excited...

Azhar Hassan | 9 years ago | Reply Well, Punishing or hanging a criminal or offender (although position isn't clear he is actualy a wrong doer or not) is not a question but real issue is that how he has been sentenced it involves a bit of sectarian element for which is already a bone of cintention between Saudi Arabia and Iran....

Last Word | 9 years ago | Reply Why US who claims to be the champion of the human rights not questioning or severing its ties with Saudi Arabia ?

KAUMBA Joe | 9 years ago | Reply SHAME....ON UN by awarding saudi ambassador as head of HUMAN RIGHT panel. Please stop this beheading.

ahsan | 9 years ago | Reply @Adnan: It is Saudi Arabia which created terrorism in the first place and is still financing it. Remember al-qaida and its more satanic cousin daesh? @Lt Col Imtiaz Alam (retd): Have you no shame man?

Humza | 9 years ago | Reply @Adnan: There is a lot of terrorism and violence in Saudi Arabia and it is reported despite the efforts of authorities to hide things. Why do you bring this up at all when clearly the planned behaviour of Saudi authorities defies description. Do you have any idea how Arabs in general and Saudis in particular are perceived in a negative light throughout the world? We were lucky in the US in that we always told people we were not Arab but Pakistanis. I felt sorry for the Arabs who always had to apologize and explain the behavior of their nations.

ShamelessPakistanis | 9 years ago | Reply @Lt Col Imtiaz Alam (retd): No wonder our army is full of ignorants like you & hameed gul. Hence the decline of Pakistan.

Kolsat | 9 years ago | Reply @Lt Col Imtiaz Alam (retd): If you sincerely believe that there is law in Saudi Arabia then you are a fool.

Bairooni Haath | 9 years ago | Reply Maybe UAE is holding Moeed Peerzada in prison on trumped up charges for this tweet.

saeed | 9 years ago | Reply @Adnan: We are already applying Saudi rules in Karachi, Arn't we?

saeed | 9 years ago | Reply @Lt Col Imtiaz Alam (retd): How does two wrongs make this right? A weak government let Raymond go.

Ash Musharraf | 9 years ago | Reply We have still not be given the reason for the hanging !!!!! What should be clearly done is we should get similar crimes done by Royal Family Members and have them Defame their sons with their senior family members watch while they are being slaughtered !!!!! This of course is my true opinion. Ash Musharraf

violent clock | 9 years ago | Reply what a nonce

Khan | 9 years ago | Reply @Adnan: A more proper question is: What will the level of corruption be in an oppressed and stifled environment!

bigsaf | 9 years ago | Reply @Adnan: You mean making up charges against innocent anti-govt protesters as terrorists? Is that the Saudi rule you advocate. I think that may lead to more violence against oppression.

bigsaf | 9 years ago | Reply @Lt Col Imtiaz Alam (retd): The Raymond Davis case was undone by Pak's own laws of blood money. It is a human rights lawyer that is taking up Dr. Aafia Siddiquis case. Saudi due process, yea right. And tying up this guy's case with Iran to justify your own known sectarian prejudiced justification of persecution is just so typical. The double standards is apparently lost on you here.

Iqbal | 9 years ago | Reply Some of the comments made are really horrifying. Would we say the same if India, or USA or Israel or England executed a Muslim? We would rake up a big fuss, burn a few buses, destroy property, chant curses. But when it comes to Saudi Arabia, all is hunky dory. Shame on us.

Syed | 9 years ago | Reply He was 17 at the time and he will get killed for anti govt protest. shame on these barbarians. shame on the people who are bringing iran into the conversation. just the isis mentality really.

trial | 9 years ago | Reply US host Bill Maher, should also highlight how US soldiers and civilians were forbidden from intervening in bacha bazi of Afghan counterparts. Saudi aggression is wrong; so is US govt's criminal implication in child abuse. I wonder, liberals are not taking it to twitter. Every media outlet has reported it now.

Iqbal | 9 years ago | Reply @Adnan: Shame. What Saudi Arabia is practising is an extreme form of terrorism in the form of a repressive ruthless state.

Azmat Ali | 9 years ago | Reply Killing somebody (whether by beheading or stoning or poison gas) is unimaginably cruel, when done to someone who has "spoken" against the governing body of a country, even if it is the self-bloated, divine kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Yes, I stand behind such punishments for downright evil people, mass murderers of innocents, paedophiles, and others like them. But for social activism and even possession of illegal weapons, and that too when he was actually a minor. That's absolute rubbish and ridiculous. Those who stand behind such acts are the same people who support Taliban, ISIS and the like. May they live long and be made to live under the regimes they so love.

SHKT | 9 years ago | Reply @Adnan: Rule of fear is not the answer. Also, the objection isn't just the style of punishment but also the frivolous case and weak charges.

Zaida Parvez | 9 years ago | Reply Barbarians do what they do best. Where is the surprise?

Lt Col Imtiaz Alam (retd) | 9 years ago | Reply All Human Rights Activists should shut up. Where were they when Raymond Davis shot two innocent people in cold blood. Dr.Afifa a frail women sentenced to jail for 88 years for attacking American GI. The list will be too long. Iran keeps on killing Sunnis in the name of Terrorism. He has gone through due process of Law. They have Double Standards.

Adnan | 9 years ago | Reply Before all the liberal fascist start criticizing, I ask you what will be the level of terrorism and crime if we adopted Saudi style of rule.

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