Brussels, 27/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 November, 19 MEPs from the European Parliament's ALDE Group (alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe) called on the authorities of Saudi Arabia not to execute Ali Mohammed al Nimr and Dawood Hussein al Marhoon - who have both been sentenced to death, among another 55 offenders, for demonstrating against the government.
“We urge the high representative of the EU Federica Mogherini to repeat this call at the highest level”, said Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake. The MEPs have stated in a press release that they are expressing their concern now because they fear the execution of the two sentenced men may be imminent due to the fact that they have just had a medical examination.
In their letter to the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al Jubeir, the MEPs - who come from 11 EU member states (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Spain) - stated that on 8 October 2015 the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticising the sentencing of Ali Mohammed al Nimr, and had called on the Saudi authorities to suspend his death sentence and adopt a clemency measure against him or commute his punishment (see EUROPE 11406).
The young Shi'ite Muslims Dawood Hussein al Marhoon and Ali Mohammed al Nimr were sentenced to death in October 2014 as they were found guilty, among other things, of demonstrating against the government when they were under 18 (see EUROPE 11396). “Executing children is obnoxious. I believe teenagers represent a very vulnerable group sometimes failing to perceive risks and consequences of their actions and sentencing them to death for their offences is simply an inhuman act”, said Lithuanian MEP Petras Austrevicius. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)