Archive for month: October, 2015

“Any judgment imposing the death penalty upon persons who were children at the time of the offense, and their execution, are incompatible with Saudi Arabia’s international obligations,” the U.N. group said in a statement Tuesday, invoking the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a party.

France said it was “concerned” about the situation.

“Opposed to the death penalty in all cases and circumstances, we call for the execution to be called off,” Foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.

France does not usually comment on death penalty cases in Saudi Arabia due to their frequency. It has nurtured strong relations with Riyadh Wahhabi due to its tough stance on the Shia Muslims.

Nimr was convicted of sedition, rioting, protesting and robbery in the Eastern Province district of Qatif, home to many of the Wahhabi-ruled kingdom’s minority Shia, who say they face entrenched discrimination.

Nimr, who activists said was 17 at the time of his arrest in 2012, was also convicted of chanting anti-state slogans in illegal protests and inciting others to demonstrate, according to state media.

“Saudi Arabia’s plans to behead and crucify someone arrested as a child are indefensible,” said Donald Campbell, spokesman for international human rights charity Reprieve.

“The international community – particularly Saudi Arabia’s close allies, the UK and the U.S. – must stand with the French government and U.N. experts against this outrage, and call on the Saudi authorities to put a halt to this unjustified killing.”

The conviction of Nimr, a nephew of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric who is also on trial, followed that of Rida al-Rubh, 26, the son of another cleric who has been critical of the authorities.

The clerics are part of a group of around a dozen defendants on trial for their part in protests and violent unrest in Qatif, particularly in the village of Awamiya, where police officers and facilities have been attacked.

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According to al-Safir newspaper, Khalid has not appeared in front of the public ever since then and was even absent in the funeral ceremony of Dubai ruler’s son and the media have just been informed by his office that he is running affairs and fulfilling his daily duties.

But sources close to Khalid told the daily on Wednesday that he had been injured in Ma’rib, without disclosing further details.

The report came after informed sources announced on September 21 that son of the Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, was also killed in the Yemeni revolutionary forces’ attack in Ma’rib province, rejecting claims that Sheikh Rashid has died of heart attack.

“Sheikh Rashid and a number of other UAE forces were killed in a Yemeni forces’ Katyusha attack in Ma’rib province and reports on his death as a result of a heart attack are only aimed at deceiving the Emirati people who are demanding withdrawal of the UAE troops from Yemen,” the Yemeni Press quoted informed sources as saying.

The UAE news websites had claimed that Sheikh Rashid had died of a heart attack.

A Saudi-led coalition force has been striking Yemen for 190 days now to restore power to fugitive President Abed-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 6,433 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

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In a meeting with Iranian Army commanders and officials in the northern city of Noshahr, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei described as “valuable” Iran’s current military achievements in different fields, but at the same time urged accelerated progress due to the “historical lags” in the country’s development.

“By accelerating their progress and boosting their preparedness, (Iran’s) Armed Forces should create such power that enemies would not even dare to think of any (anti-Iran) offensive,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The Leader further referred to the Iranian nation’s resistance against the policies of Global Arrogance as the main reason behind the hostilities towards the country, rejecting as “incorrect” the perception that the enmities would fade away if the country backs down on its positions.

“The enemy is seeking the surrender of the Islamic Establishment, and the hostilities would not end by giving in to them,” the Leader stressed.

In relevant remarks last year, Ayatollah Khamenei had underscored that the Iranian nation will never give in to pressures of the US and other world powers.

“The (world) powers should know that the Iranian nation will not be brought to its knees, because it is a lively nation, and the youth of the country are moving ahead in the right direction,” the Leader said at the time.

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