Brussels, 24/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 23 September, an EU spokesperson for foreign affairs told EUROPE that the EU has taken note of the appointment of the Saudi ambassador as head of the consultative group of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“We call on increased Saudi engagement in the work of the Human Rights Council, whose members have a special responsibility to enhance the protection of human rights domestically”, the EU spokesperson said. The spokesperson thus warned that the EU would continue to engage the Saudi authorities on a number of issues of concern, “in particular in view of the recommendations made during the recent UN universal periodic review process concluded in 2014, notably on the death penalty”.
On 21 September, the European Parliament's ALDE Group criticised this appointment that had been published the same day, describing it as a “disgrace” and a “terrible choice that must be condemned” (see EUROPE 11394).
Call from France to renounce execution of Ali Al-Nimr.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia's use of the death penalty is once again being criticised. Shi'ite Muslim, 21-year-old Ali Al-Nimr, has been sentenced with beheading, then crucifixion, for demonstrating against the government when he was a minor. At the informal summit in Brussels on 23 September, France's President François Hollande called on Riyadh to “renounce” its execution “in the name of the principle that the death penalty must be abolished and execution prevented”. “I have always said, especially on Saudi Arabia, that the position of France would not vary and that the utmost must be done to stop these executions everywhere”, he said.
While the European Union has not responded publicly to this death sentence, its position is well-known: the EU is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances, believing that capital punishment is “cruel and inhumane”. The United Nations has stated that any sentence inflicting the death penalty on people under the age of 18 at the time of the offence, and execution, are incompatible with Saudi Arabia's international obligations. In 2015, 135 people were executed in Saudi Arabia. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)