On 9 April 2026 Saudi Arabia’s authorities executed Ali al-Subaiti, a young man convicted following a grossly unfair trial of “terrorist” crimes allegedly committed when he was a minor, in blatant disregard of international human rights law. His execution marks the third known execution of a child offender in Saudi Arabia in less than eight months and heightens concerns for other child offenders at imminent risk of execution.
Also executed on the same day, in connection with the same case, was his uncle, Mustafa al-Subaiti. These executions come just days after the 1 April execution of businessman Saud al-Faraj on similar charges linked to his participation in protests in 2011. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had previously called for al-Faraj’s release. Taken together, these cases indicate continued use of the death penalty as a political tool against Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a minority, amid what appears to be an intensifying crackdown in the context of heightened regional tensions.
Ali al-Subaiti (born 13 May 1999) and Mustafa al-Subaiti were arrested in October 2017. Following his arrest, Ali was held in solitary confinement for nine months while being interrogated, during which he was subjected to torture and denied contact with his family and a lawyer. Both men were later tried before the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC), which handles terrorism-related cases, in proceedings that fell far short of basic due process standards. In October 2022, the court sentenced Ali to death.
ALQST has reviewed court documents that show the list of charges brought against Ali al-Subaiti. They include acts protected by the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, such as “seeking to destabilise the social fabric and national unity by participating in sit-ins and demonstrations”, in addition to allegations of involvement in violent acts. These events date back to protests in Saudi Arabia’s Shia-majority Eastern Province in 2011, in which Ali took part as a 12-year-old, against the treatment of the kingdom's marginalised Shia community.
Applying the death penalty to people who were under 18 years old at the time of the crime of which they are convicted is prohibited by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a party. Amid international criticism, the Saudi authorities in 2020 purportedly issued a decree ending judges’ discretion to hand down death sentences to minors. The measure, however, contained loopholes whereby underage offenders can still be executed, such as by excluding cases brought under the Counter-Terrorism Law – as in the cases of Mustafa al-Darwish, executed in 2021, Jalal Labbad, executed in August 2025, Abdullah al-Derazi, executed in October 2025, and now Ali al-Subaiti – Saudi Arabia’s official Human Rights Commission later insisted that “no one in Saudi Arabia will be executed for a crime committed as a minor”. The executions that have taken place since then thus contradict official claims to have ended the practice of executing child offenders.
They also raise grave fears for other child offenders at imminent risk of execution. At least four others – Youssef al-Manasef, Ali al-Mabiyouq, Jawad Qureiris and Hassan al-Faraj – have all had their death sentences upheld by the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal. UN experts have repeatedly found the detention and death sentences of Labbad, al-Derazi and three other child offenders to be arbitrary, and as recently as April 2025 called for their immediate release.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s profligate use of the death penalty continues apace. Following the highest recorded number of executions (356) in Saudi history in 2025, the authorities’ execution spree has continued into 2026, with 54 people executed so far. The majority of executions this year (32) have been for non-lethal drug-related offences, while 9 have been for terrorism-related offences, which according to the vague and overly broad definition in Saudi law can include a wide range of non-lethal acts. Both these types of execution are in clear violation of international human rights law, which limits use of the death penalty – where practised – to only the “most serious crimes”, involving intentional killing.
ALQST once again urges the Saudi authorities to immediately establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty for all crimes. Pending full abolition, Saudi Arabia must immediately remove from its laws all death penalty provisions that are in breach of international human rights law, such as for crimes that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes”, and for crimes committed by minors.
