RIYADH — The royal order staying the execution of minors who received final death sentences covers all individuals who were under the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime, including those sentenced to death on terrorism charges, Saudi Human Rights Commission confirmed in a statement. According to the royal order, the 2018 juvenile law is also applicable to persons who received final death sentences before the law was passed. The Commission in a statement issued on Wednesday further clarified the royal order, saying: It is retroactively applicable meaning that all individuals who had been previously sentenced to death for crimes committed while they were minors will have their sentence commuted to prison sentences of no more than 10 years. The law states that if a minor between the age of 15-18 commits a crime punishable by death, the individual should receive prison sentence of no longer than 10 years and he or she should serve time in a juvenile detention facility. The HRC noted that the royal order laid out all the regulatory issues linked to substituting imposing the death penalty against minors with sentencing them to serve time in specialized juvenile detention centers, which includes minors sentenced to serve periods longer 10 ten years. The HRC said that the procedures in place do not involve anything that may serve as an exception to the implementation of this royal order. It reiterated that the government of Saudi Arabia places much emphasis on juvenile justice, saying that it is manifested both in the promulgation of the 2018 Law on Juveniles and the royal order stated herein.
