Following the unprecedented action by Saudi Arabia’s in the mass execution of 81 citizens, including 40 adolescents and youths from the Eastern Province as officially mentioned in the statement released by the Saudi Interior Ministry, Five International Cultural & Legal Entities of Iran including the Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly, the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, Al-Mustafa International University, the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization and the High Council for Human Rights released a statement.
The full text of the statement follows:
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Statement by Five International Cultural & Legal Entities in Reaction to Recent Mass Executions in Saudi Arabia
In the aftermath of Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented action in the mass execution of 81 citizens, including 40 adolescents and youths from the Eastern Province as officially mentioned in the statement released by the Saudi Interior Ministry;
Following divine religious teachings, particularly Islamic teachings, calling for respecting Muslim blood and human life;
With international human rights instruments, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in particular, laying emphasis upon the inherent dignity of all members of the human family and their equal and inalienable rights, UN Member States’ commitment to disavowal of any discrimination or distinction in terms of religion and faith, right to life, freedom and security, proscribing unjust punishment or treatment and right to fair, just and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal and guaranteeing defense throughout hearing as inalienable, indivisible and uninterpretable rights;
Recalling the obligation to comply with principles and precepts of Islamic Sharia regarding the five prohibitions and disavowal of injustice, emphasis on the political rights and public freedoms within the framework of religious regulations and criteria, which nobody is allowed to dishonor as compliance with them amounts to act of liturgy and virtue and non-compliance with them amounts to sin and vice, thereby requiring worldly and otherworldly punishment;
On the strength of the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, which recognizes right to life, humans’ peace of mind with regards to their life, religion, family, honor and property, fair trial by guaranteeing defense and disavowing arbitrary punishment as the inviolable right of human beings, thereby requiring all Muslim States’ compliance therewith;
Following Islamic teachings on public responsibility, patronage and solidarity, defending the rights of the aggrieved, advising against and preventing any word or deed susceptible to defame Islam and Muslim communities and nations in the eyes of the world;
We, the undersigned, who have recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Cooperation in Human Rights and Human Dignity in the International Arena within the framework of Islamic human rights, while condemning the Saudi regime’s action which contradicts religious, legal and customary precepts and criteria of the Muslim community and contemporary world, lay emphasis upon points enumerated hereinunder:
Mass execution, in such extremely high number, is in conflict with the general principles of law, principles of Islamic law, moral principles as well as international procedure and customs, including in terms of human rights and citizen’s rights, and denies citizens their rights and justice, which is an unforgivable sin; furthermore, it paints a violent picture of religion, Islamic law as well as Muslim communities and nations to contemporary world, which would expose promotion of Islam, Muslim civilization and promotion of the term Allah to serious and immobilizing threats;
The Saudi Interior Ministry’s statement noting that all or some of the executees’ belief in so-called “misleading thoughts and other deviating schools of thought” indicates that the country’s rulers are bent on putting to death and punishing based upon faith and not commission of crime, which contradicts the recent allegations by Saudi rulers on the religious equality of citizens, and demonstrates divergence between deed and word and application of double standards, contradicting the principles of human wisdom and divine faiths and contemporary laws;
The execution of the young in the cities of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, pronounced guilty of participating in peaceful demonstrations and protest rallies, along with Daesh operatives who must have committed acts of terrorism against people, strengthens speculation about the Saudi rulers’ attempt to justify the death penalty for Shia politico-social dissidents under the cover of criminal acts committed by terrorist groups in an attempt to evade accountability over flagrant human rights violations under the pretext of prosecuting and punishing terrorists, and offer a normal picture of the death penalty for advocating for a different faith and religion;
This mass execution and similar events showed the impossibility of guaranteeing legal procedures, equality of people before law and fair trials in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, criminalizing the citizens’ deeds without any legal grounds strips the proof of crime of any legal standing, violates the Nulla Paena Sine Lege rule and prevents a precedent in rulings, let alone other dire consequences, a fallout of which would be denial of public rights; and
Putting defendants on trial, regardless of the political and social factors which would facilitate commission of crime or complicity therein, are among affairs violating justice and public rights. Inattention to the Takfiri and terrorist groups’ dominance on the ruling system in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi aggression against Yemen and committing war crimes and genocide against defenseless Yemeni people for more than seven years now, exertion of pressure and making attempts for normalization of ties with the Zionist regime, which triggered public anger and hatred in the Eastern Province, among other cases left citizens with no option but to protest. Therefore, the solution lies in finding the root causes of these challenges and applying a fundamental remedy thereto, in lieu of mass execution.
In conclusion, we, the undersigned, while reaffirming the necessity for all nations to comply with human dignity, legal and moral norms, basic rights and preventing arbitrary punishments, call upon all nations, international and regional organizations, the entire Muslim community and all free-spirited people in the world to condemn this criminal act and take steps in favor of global solidarity in combating injustice and establishing justice.
“You will see the wrongdoers, when they face the chastisement, pleading, “Is there any way back [to the world]? (The Holy Quran, 42:44)