AI urges Riyadh to rule out death penalty for teenager

Amnesty International urged Saudi Arabia to rule out the death penalty for a teenage boy who was arrested five years ago.

Amnesty International urged Saudi Arabia to rule out the death penalty for a teenage boy who was arrested five years ago.

Murtaja Qureiris was arrested at the age of 13 for taking part in protests against the government and has been detained ever since, according to Amnesty.

Qureiris, now 18, faces possible execution for a series of offences, some of which date back to when he was 10 years old, the rights group reported.

Saudi Arabia’s public prosecution sought the death penalty for Qureiris last August for offences that include “participating in anti-government protests, attending the funeral of his brother Ali Qureiris who was killed in a protest in 2011, joining a ‘terrorist organization’, throwing Molotov cocktails at a police station, and firing at security forces”, Amnesty said in a press release on Friday.

Saudi Arabia has yet to respond to the call by Amnesty International.