Saudi Amends Death Sentence Against Former Teen Activist: Family

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s criminal court has amended to 10 years in prison an earlier death sentence handed to political activist Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was imprisoned as a teenager, his father said on Sunday.

The decision followed a 2020 royal decree halting the use of capital punishment against minors, and recommending instead that they should be re-sentenced to a maximum 10 years in juvenile detention.

Saudi Arabia has long faced international criticism for criminal punishments that included beheadings and public floggings for various crimes. The kingdom executed 184 people in 2019, according to Amnesty International, the third-highest number in the world after China and Iran.

Al-Nimr, who was arrested for having taken part in anti-government rallies in Saudi Arabia in 2011-2012, was sentenced to death despite his age, his mother told the Amnesty International in 2016. He is believed to be 25 or 26 now.

Al-Nimr has been in prison for nine years and is expected to serve the remaining eight months before his release, his father, Mohammed al-Nimr, said in a tweet on Sunday.

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