Topic:
Country: Saudi Arabia
Delegate Name: Elizabeth MacKenzie
The death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of capital crime. The death penalty is most commonly given out to those who have been convicted of murder, genocide, and treason. Only fifty four countries use the death penalty as of today. Even though other countries are against it, many of their citizens approve of the death penalty.
Saudi Arabia’s judicial system is based on Islamic law (Shari’ah) for both criminal and civil cases. Sharia is the ideal form of divine guidance that Muslims follow to live a righteous life. Sharia has a category for sentencing called Qisas. Qisas permits capital punishment for intentional and unintentional murder. So forth in the case of death the nearest relative has the right to, if the court approves, take the life of the killer. As stated under the Sharia law, capital punishment is prescribed for premeditated murder so as to implement the justice demanded in the Sharia.
In later years our government has declared that anyone convicted of a crime under the age of eighteen will now face a maximum punishment of ten years in juvenile detention and not the death penalty. We have issued a royal decree in 2020, abolishing the death penalty for children.
In November of 2022 our authorities resumed executions for drug-related offenses.
Our country has a significantly lower crime rate and only has an estimated one thousand crimes per year. Saudi Arabia has fewer felonies than petty crimes. 36,947,025 people live in Saudi Arabia and only 129.5 convicted criminals are sentenced to the death penalty.
