Saudi Arabia bids for UN human rights spot, as it breaks annual execution record

LONDON -- Saudi Arabia is seeking a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in a vote scheduled for Oct. 9, hoping to reverse its 2020 failure to win a spot on the 47-seat body.

The kingdom will do so having set a new record high in annual executions in 2024; a sobering statistic human rights groups are highlighting as nations consider who to vote into the U.N. body, whose mission is the "promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe."

The Saudi Human Rights Commission declared in an English-language statement in 2020 that "no one in Saudi Arabia will be executed for a crime committed as a minor, in accordance with the Royal Order of March 2020."

The royal order never transpired, and the Arabic-language version of the declaration noted a death penalty ban only for some nonviolent crimes, like drug offenses.

Riyadh continued its executions, including those of people charged for offenses allegedly committed while they were minors.

Vision2030 -- the transformative vision of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, colloquially known as MBS -- committed to "a vibrant society in which all citizens can thrive and pursue their passions."

MBS' manifesto was widely interpreted to hint at social liberalization, something the Saudi HRC's apparent death penalty moratorium appeared aligned with.

But actions taken during the four years since then appear to indicate Saudi Arabia remains committed to capital punishment. Between January and Oct. 4, Riyadh executed 206 people per the state-run Saudi Press Agency, surpassing the high of 196 set in 2022. Of this year's tally, 85 were executed for non-lethal offenses, including 59 for drug crimes.

This year is now the bloodiest for Saudi death row prisoners in 30 years.

Saudi authorities did not respond to ABC News' requests for comment.

'They could kill him at any time'

"They've never published the law -- it's never been made publicly accessible," Jeed Basyouni, of the Reprieve nonprofit, said of Saudi Human Rights Commission's 2020 declaration.

"We don't know what it actually says, but we do know that it's not being implemented," she told ABC News.

"We know that at least one person has been executed since then for a crime committed when he was a child," Basyouni said. "And we know of three other people on death row now for childhood crimes."

Among them is Hassan al-Faraj, 27, who was sentenced to death in 2022 having been charged with a variety of offenses, at least one of which dates to when he was 14 years old.

Faraj's relatives said his detention and trial were opaque and tinged with threats against family members. He is imprisoned in the eastern city of Dammam.

"From the moment of his arrest we tried to reach him, but they kept him in solitary confinement for almost three months," the family members -- who did not wish to be identified individually for fear of reprisal -- told ABC News.

"We knew nothing about him, nor did we know what charges he faced. He remained detained for three years without a lawyer."

Among the charges against Faraj are joining groups via telephone programs, possessing banned pictures, possessing weapons, joining a terrorist organization, harboring wanted individuals and assisting wounded people.

Faraj's solitary confinement lasted three months, his relatives said, during which time they said visits were not permitted and he was "subjected to physical and psychological torture, including beatings and electric shocks, which led to him being hospitalized several times."

"He still suffers from foot pain due to the torture and was forced to sign confessions," his family said.

Faraj's requests for video footage of the interrogations and for officers involved to testify were rejected by the judge overseeing the case, his family said.

Relatives are now able to visit Faraj on a regular basis and are in constant communication with him, they said. "But he fears for his family's safety, fearing retaliation if he shares information," they added.

"Some families are summoned for questioning, and in some cases, they are arrested if they speak out publicly about the cases."

One relative of another death row prisoner -- who also requested anonymity -- told ABC News that speaking out could prove fatal.

"In Saudi Arabia, they know how to bend you," said Ibrahim -- which is not his real name. "They could kill him at any time."

"If I give my name, right away maybe tomorrow or after tomorrow" authorities may perform the execution, he added. "They do it for revenge."

International backing

Saudi Arabia's particular brand of justice has prompted international backlash, most notably the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in 2018.

Riyadh tried to dodge the outrage over the killing by blaming rogue actors. MBS himself has blamed "bad laws" for controversial executions.

Basyouni believes that the crown prince is inextricably linked to the spiking execution figures.

"It's Mohammed bin Salman -- he is running the show, he makes the decisions," she said. "All laws must go through him."

"He has a very controlling hand in the death sentences that are coming down Saudi Arabia and the execution numbers that are going up. So really, all roads do lead back to him."

Death penalty cases are often routed through the Specialized Criminal Court, created in 2008 to clear a backlog in terrorism cases but often used to try human rights activists and anti-government protesters.

The court is part of the Interior Ministry rather than the Justice Ministry, placing it within the national security sphere and MBS' remit.

Khashoggi's death resulted in a brief effort by Western nations to distance themselves from Riyadh. But the international climate has since developed in Riyadh's favor.

Russia's war on Ukraine has touched off a tussle for influence over so-called "Global South" and non-aligned nations, among which Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest and most influential.

Saudi Arabia -- long a vital pillar in U.S.-Israeli efforts to isolate and contain Iran -- became even more important after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which sparked off a new conflict that threatens to engulf the entire Middle East.

The "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" -- a title referring to the Saudi rulers' responsibility for the two holiest mosques in Islam in Mecca and Medina -- will wield significant influence in discussions over the future of the devastated Gaza Strip, West Bank and Lebanon once direct military operations ease.

An elusive normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel may prove central to any fresh regional peace efforts.

The proposal remains a prime goal for both the Democrats and Republicans, and American efforts to seal the deal are likely to continue regardless of who occupies the Oval Office come January.

"Saudi Arabia is quite intelligent at using these moments of chaos around the world," Basyouni said. "They're quite good at knowing when public attention is distracted, when there's no space in newspapers to cover this."

Indeed, the biggest mass execution in Saudi history -- in which 81 men were killed -- came on March 12, 2022, just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"I think right now they have no incentive to reform their human rights records," Basyouni said. "Pressure on Saudi Arabia is nonexistent."

A seat on the U.N. human rights body, Basyouni said, is unlikely to change Saudi conduct.

"Saudi Arabia has no respect for these institutions, they are consistently lying to the U.N. and the U.N. Human Rights Council every opportunity they get," she said.

"I don't think they have any respect for institutions, and I don't think that will change whether or not they're on the inside."

Meanwhile, the families of the condemned continue their agonizing wait for news. "All that matters to us is the safety of our son," Faraj's family said.

"Anyone who has the ability to raise his case at any level and does not do so cannot speak about human rights."

Ibrahim concurred. "Everybody knows about what is going on in Saudi Arabia," he said, noting the continued Western sales of military hardware to Riyadh despite the myriad human rights concerns.

"What kind of human rights are you talking about when you send tanks and weapons to kill people who protest?" he asked.

"If you have the money, you have the power."