UN to Saudi Arabia: Stop Executing People for Childhood Crimes

By PeanutsChoice | Citizen of Europe

Intro

Let’s be blunt: if the crime happened when you were a kid, the state doesn’t get to kill the adult you became. UN experts told Saudi Arabia exactly that — again — after the execution of Jalal al-Labbad, condemned for acts he allegedly committed at 15. International law isn’t ambiguous here. The practice is banned. So why is it back? (OHCHR Sept 2025).

The Bigger Picture

The UN’s position is simple: no child-offence executions. Ever. Rights groups say Saudi practice persists through specialized courts and anti-terror provisions — a legal maze that still ends on the gallows. (HRW).

Europe, America, and the Price of Silence

Europe loves clean tech; the United States loves stability. But when executions for childhood crimes continue, values vs. interests stops being a seminar debate and starts being a foreign-policy choice. Accountability tools exist — Magnitsky-style sanctions, UN forums — and the international legal architecture stands in principle. What’s missing is political will.

Fact Check — Saudi Executions of Minors

Case 1: Mustafa al-Darwish (2021) — Arrested in 2015 at 17 for alleged protest activity. Executed in June 2021. Rights groups confirmed he was convicted for offences committed as a child and tortured into a confession. (Amnesty, Reprieve, Al Jazeera).

Case 2: Jalal al-Labbad (2025) — Executed on 21 August 2025 for alleged offences at 15. According to the UN Human Rights Office, his trial before the Specialized Criminal Court under terrorism laws lacked international standards; rights groups allege torture-derived confession.

Together, these two cases show a consistent pattern: despite promises of reform, Saudi Arabia continues to execute individuals for offences committed as children — in direct violation of international law.

Humanity and International Law

International law is supposed to be the line that separates justice from vengeance. The ban on executing people for crimes committed as children is not a technicality—it is the baseline of civilization. Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child says it in one sentence: the death penalty “shall not be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.”

When a state ignores that line, it isn’t just breaking a treaty—it is breaking with humanity itself. The legitimacy of international law depends on whether the most vulnerable are protected. If children cannot be shielded from the gallows, then what does “rule of law” even mean? Saudi Arabia is not the first state to test this boundary, but each violation weakens the universal claim of human rights for everyone.

Final Word

If the world can’t draw the line at executing people for what they did as kids, then “human rights” is just a slogan we dust off when it’s convenient.