(Beirut) – Saudi authorities announced on October 17, 2026, that they had executed Hassan Zaki al-Faraj, who was convicted of crimes allegedly committed when he was a 14-year-old boy, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Supreme Court has also apparently upheld the death sentence of another man, Yousef al-Manasif, who was convicted of crimes allegedly committed when he was 15 and 16, putting him at risk of imminent execution. At least three other men convicted of alleged crimes committed as children are on death row, despite allegations of torture, forced confessions, and prolonged solitary confinement.
“The execution of Hassan al-Faraj is unconscionable compounded by alleged torture-tainted evidence and a well-documented record of unfair trials,” said Joey Shea, senior Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “With the Supreme Court’s recent decision, Yousef al-Manasif is also at serious risk of execution.”
The death sentence for al-Manasif was recently upheld by the Supreme Court, the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) reported. In October and November 2022, Saudi Arabia’s notorious Specialized Criminal Court handed down death sentences to al-Manasif and al-Faraj, as well as Ali al-Mabyook, Jawad Qureiris, Ali al-Subaiti, and Mahdi al-Mohsen for alleged terrorism crimes they committed as children, according to a report by the ESOHR and court documents.
Saudi authorities arrested al-Faraj on November 27, 2017, held him in solitary confinement for six months, and charged him with various counterterrorism offenses, including one allegedly committed when he was 14, which relates to meeting and developing friendships with other detained and wanted individuals, based on the charge sheet and court documents. The Specialized Criminal Court sentenced him to death on November 3, 2022, despite allegations that he had been tortured and forced to sign the confession on which the conviction was based, his defense said.
Court documents reviewed by Human Rights Watch show that authorities arrested al-Manasif on April 6, 2017, and al-Mabyook on January 29, 2018. Al-Manasif was arrested for protesting Saudi authorities’ treatment of its Shia minority and attending funeral processions in 2011 and 2012 when he was 15 and 16, according to the ESOHR and United Nations experts. Al-Mabyook was arrested for attending funeral processions before he turned 18, ESOHR and court documents said.
The court convicted and sentenced them to death on November 2, 2022, under broad and vague counterterrorism laws based almost exclusively on confessions that their defense alleges were obtained under torture, the documents showed. The authorities did not inform al-Manasif of his charges until months after his arrest or provide him with legal representation during his interrogation and held him in pretrial detention for over two years, including six months in solitary confinement, the documents show.
Both al-Manasif and al-Mabyook appealed to the Appellate Chamber of the Specialized Criminal Court on March 19, 2025. The appeals were based on them both having been under 18 when the alleged offenses were committed, the court documents said. On August 26, 2025, the appellate court rejected that defense, referring to the dates in their confessions, despite allegations that the confession was obtained under torture.
Saudi authorities arrested Qureiris on December 31, 2020, court documents say. Saudi authorities charged him under the counterterrorism law for alleged offenses at the ages of 15 and 17. The Specialized Criminal Court convicted and sentenced him to death on November 5, 2022, despite allegations of severe beatings during interrogation to make him sign a confession, the documents say. Qureiris was also held in solitary confinement for 270 days to force the confession, according to the documents.
The decision was submitted to the same court for review on November 12, 2025, where Qureiris stated that he did not commit any of the alleged offenses except participating in a protest in 2010 when he was 15, court documents showed. The court approved his death sentence on March 2, 2025.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded in November 2024 that the detentions of al-Manasif, al-Faraj, and Qureiris were arbitrary and based on the men’s exercise of their right to free speech when they participated in protests against Saudi Arabia’s treatment of the country’s Shia minority.
On April 9, 2026, Saudi authorities executed Ali al-Subaiti for alleged crimes committed when he was 12, according to the Saudi Press Agency. On October 23, 2017, Saudi authorities arrested al-Subaiti, who was then 19, and charged him under counterterrorism provisions including joining and financing a terrorist organization and attempting to undermine the social fabric and national security by inciting protests, according to the charge sheet. The charges included participating in a demonstration when he was 12 and “covering up for terrorists” when he was 17. The court sentenced al-Subaiti to death on October 17, 2022, according to the ESOHR.
Saudi Arabia’s Juvenile Law of 2018 and a 2020 executive order ended the use of the death penalty against individuals who were under 18 when the crime was committed, in cases that do not involve the 2017 counterterrorism law. In non-terrorism cases, the death penalty is replaced with a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Human Rights Watch has documented Saudi Arabia’s long-standing misuse of counterterrorism provisions to silence dissent.
In 2025, Saudi Arabia executed Jalal al-Labbad and Abdullah al-Derazi, both accused of committing crimes as children, as part of the country’s unprecedented execution spree, despite calls from UN experts and rights groups to halt the executions.
Human Rights Watch has documented long-standing due process violations in Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system, including restricted or denied access to legal representation and forced confessions, making it highly unlikely that any of the eight men received a fair trial.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a party, strictly prohibits the use of the death penalty for offenses committed by individuals under 18. Article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 6 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights oblige countries that use capital punishment to use it only for the “most serious crimes.” Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all countries and circumstances due to its inherent cruelty and irreversibility.
“Saudi Arabia’s execution spree, particularly for offenses by children, shows no signs of slowing down in 2026,” Shea said. “This underscores the urgent need for the international community to press the Saudi government to immediately halt executions and abolish the death penalty once and for all.”