Saudi Arabia Executes Jalal Labbad Despite UN Calls for His Release

On Thursday, August 21, 2025, Saudi authorities carried out a ta’zir execution against detainee Jalal bin Hassan Labbad in the Eastern Province, according to an official statement by the Ministry of Interior.

The Saudi government attempted to justify the ruling by accusing Labbad of joining a “terrorist organization” and participating in the killing of Judge Mohammed Al-Jirani. However, these allegations contradict findings by rights groups and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which had described his detention as arbitrary and demanded his immediate release.

The charges against Labbad included participating in protests and funerals between 2010 and 2012 — when he was still a minor aged 15–17 — and allegedly training in and using weapons during the same period. Yet no credible evidence was ever presented to prove his involvement, including claims of his role in the judge’s killing.

Since his arrest in February 2017, Labbad suffered severe violations documented by UN rapporteurs: more than nine months in solitary confinement, brutal torture by beatings until loss of consciousness, electric shocks, strangulation, and threats against him and his family to force false confessions. He was denied his right to legal defense and prevented from appointing a lawyer, even after his trial began in 2019.

The UN confirmed that all evidence used against him consisted of confessions extracted under torture, nullifying the legal basis of the sentence. Even more alarming, some charges dated back to when he was still a child.

Labbad’s case is not unique. Saudi authorities have a long record of fabricating terrorism charges to silence critics — executing a Shia youth on claims of Al-Qaeda affiliation, journalist Turki Al-Jasser under “terrorism” pretexts linked to his media work, and detainee Dhafir Al-Shahri for a mere tweet. These cases reveal a systematic pattern of weaponizing terrorism charges for political repression.

The execution of Jalal Labbad not only violates human rights standards but also reflects Saudi Arabia’s continued defiance of international obligations and its use of the judiciary as a tool of repression.

Sanad Human Rights Organization strongly condemns the execution of Jalal Labbad, calling it a heinous crime that adds to Saudi Arabia’s record of grave violations. The organization stresses that fabricating charges and enforcing unjust executions constitute a blatant challenge to international law and urges urgent international action to hold Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his government accountable for these systematic abuses.