Saudi Arabia Executes Former Child Protester Jawad Qureiris
Riyadh put to death a man accused over protests he allegedly joined at age 14, the fifth such execution of a former child defendant since August 2025, drawing condemnation from rights group Reprieve.
By Olga Menon ·
Saudi Arabia executed Jawad Qureiris, a former child defendant from the kingdom's Shia-majority Eastern Province, on Saturday, along with another Saudi national, the Saudi Press Agency announced.
Qureiris came from a prominent Shia family in the Eastern Province and was between 14 and 15 years old during the Arab Spring protests of 2011 and 2012. He was arrested in December 2020 and charged with offences related to taking part in protests and organising on social media.
His family said he was severely tortured until he gave a false confession to non-lethal terrorism offences, a confession that was then used to convict him.
The family has a documented history of encounters with state security. One of Qureiris' brothers was killed by security forces, while another was arrested at age 13 and faced capital charges over alleged offences committed when he was nine years old.
The Ministry of Interior said Fadel bin Hassan bin Abdullah Al-Safwani was also executed on Saturday. According to the ministry, both men were convicted of "terrorist crimes," with authorities alleging they joined a foreign terrorist organisation, opened fire on security personnel and vehicles with weapons and explosives, possessed live ammunition, and provided logistical and financial support for operations within the kingdom.
The Saudi Press Agency said the cases passed through specialised criminal courts, where the men's legal responsibility was established, before the verdicts were upheld by the Supreme Court and ratified by royal decree.
Qureiris is the fifth man executed by Saudi Arabia since August 2025 over alleged offences committed while still a child. All five came from Shia families in the eastern provinces and were put to death for offences tied to demonstrations during and after the Arab Spring protests of 2011 and 2012.
Jeed Basyouni, Reprieve's head of MENA death penalty projects, condemned the executions and said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's "penalty for dissent is death," adding that the last two years had made clear "this applies to children too." "Just like the other four young men executed recently for taking part in demonstrations when they were children, Jawad was tortured into making a false confession to so-called 'terrorist' offences and then tried, convicted, sentenced and finally killed in secret," Basyouni said.
Basyouni accused the crown prince of pursuing "a vendetta against Jawad's family and others like it who dared to question his right to rule," saying the kingdom uses capital punishment as a tool of political oppression and to settle personal scores. Reprieve called on Saudi Arabia's international partners to make urgent representations to halt the imminent execution of Youssef al Manasif.
The Eastern Province, a historic hotbed of anti-government demonstrations and home to the kingdom's vast oil reserves, has long been the focal point of state crackdowns against its Shia-majority population.
