Human rights organization Amnesty International describes in his report The draft of Saudi Arabia’s new criminal law as a “manifestation of oppression”. According to Amnesty, the draft law justifies human rights violations that were already known.
Amnesty received the 116-page draft law in 2022 in connection with the data leak.
Saudi Arabia currently does not have its own criminal code. Instead, the country’s legal system relies entirely on judges’ case-by-case interpretations of Islamic Sharia law, which has left room for a wide range of human rights violations.
Western countries and numerous international organizations have long demanded that Saudi Arabia enact a criminal code that complies with international agreements, in which crimes and their punishments are precisely defined.
Until now, the country has allowed, among other things, death sentences and honor violence against women. Freedom of expression has also been significantly restricted, and the Saudi ruling family has often silenced its critics.
The most famous of the cases is probably the journalist Jamal Khashoggi murder for hire in 2018. The US Central Intelligence Service CIA has stated that the murder took place the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Salman by order of.
Death sentences still possible
Amnesty urges Saudi Arabia to make the necessary changes to the draft criminal law so that it complies with international human rights treaties.
In the draft seen by Amnesty, the death sentence is recorded as a possible punishment for numerous different crimes. The grounds for the death sentence can vary from various violent crimes and rape to apostasy and blasphemy.
In addition, the law still allows torture-style punishments under Sharia law in several places, such as whipping or amputation of a hand as a punishment for theft.
The draft criminal law even allows the execution of children for certain crimes. The minimum age for criminal liability is seven years.
In 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 196 people, which is the highest number recorded by Amnesty in thirty years.
Violence against women is not addressed
So far, Saudi Arabia has completely lacked legislation that would protect women and girls from discrimination and gender-based violence. There are still no provisions in the new criminal law draft that would enable people who commit honor violence to be held criminally responsible for assaults or murders.
Sexual harassment is not precisely defined in the draft law, and marital rape is not defined as a crime. Abortion, on the other hand, is prohibited under the Criminal Code.
Freedom of expression has been limited in recent years
Over the past decade, the Saudi Arabian authorities have severely limited freedom of expression. Saudi Arabia has condemned numerous people who expressed dissenting opinions, such as human rights advocates, journalists, religious leaders and representatives of the women’s movement. People who have criticized the administration have been both imprisoned and deported from the country, and travel bans have been imposed on them.
For example, a human rights activist For Salma al-Shehab was dropped 27 year sentence about defending women’s rights in message service X. Still in ongoing litigation Manahel al-Otaibi awaiting sentencing for violating the dress code for women and criticizing the women’s patronage system.
According to Amnesty, Saudi Arabia no longer limits its persecution to persons in significant positions. According to the organization, the authorities have even punished people whose X accounts had only 10 followers at the time of publishing messages criticizing Saudi Arabia.
The new criminal law would make it a crime to violate the legal system. The Penal Code would also criminalize same-sex relationships. Also, general “indecent behavior” and “imitating the opposite sex in the form of clothing” would be prohibited in the law when the new criminal law comes into force.
The establishment of independent communities or organizations has been prohibited since 2015. In 2022, ten Egyptian men were sentenced to 10 to 18 years in prison for organizing a peaceful event, because the event had not been given official permission.
In addition to the faith of Islam, the practice of other religions is not allowed.
Migrant workers’ rights are not protected
Like other Arab countries, Saudi Arabia is known for its extensive and impressive construction projects. Migrant workers arriving from abroad make up a significant part of the workers in the construction industry.
Amnesty has succeeded in confirming numerous cases where the treatment of migrant workers has met the definitions of human trafficking and labor exploitation. Foreign workers have been given false information about working conditions, their wages have been denied and they have been accommodated in inferior conditions. In addition, employees have been subjected to verbal and physical violence.
Migrant workers’ rights are not protected in the new criminal law.
Large-scale sportswear is just an eye-turning trick
According to Amnesty, Saudi Arabia spends huge sums of money to polish its own public image. According to the organization, this is how the country tries to turn the world’s eyes away from stale legal practices and gross human rights violations.
In recent years, the capital Riyadh has become the focal point of major international events, with the aim of challenging Las Vegas’ position as the entertainment capital of the world.
Numerous international superstars, the biggest soccer players of the last decades, have joined the oil country’s huge PR campaign Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi down to. Ronaldo has represented Riyadh’s major club Al-Nassr since January 2023. Messi, on the other hand, has worked for the country as an advertising face already from 2021.
In public, Saudi Arabia’s superstars hired as mannequins regularly come out to praise Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and the country’s other leading figures for the unparalleled setting and hospitality.
In addition, Saudi Arabia, like other prosperous Arab countries, has sought to buy large Western sports clubs. In 2021, the Saudi Arabian state acquired the traditional British club Newcastle United.