Urgent Action Outcome: Jalal Labbad Executed For Alleged Crimes As A Child

On 21 August 2025, Saudi authorities executed Jalal Labbad for crimes allegedly committed when he was under 18 years of age [a child]. Jalal Labbad, born on 3 April 1995, was arrested in connection with his participation in protests in 2011 and 2012 against the treatment of Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a minority in Al-Qatif, as well as his attendance at funerals of individuals killed by security forces. On 1 August 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) convicted and sentenced him to death for alleged offences committed when he was 16 and 17 years old.

NO FURTHER ACTION IS REQUESTED. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT APPEALS.

On 21 August 2025, Saudi authorities executed Jalal Labbad for crimes allegedly committed when he was under 18 years of age [a child]. Jalal Labbad was arrested in connection with his participation in protests in 2011 and 2012 against the treatment of Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a minority in Al-Qatif, as well as his attendance at funerals of individuals killed by security forces. 

On 1 August 2022, the SCC convicted and sentenced him to death for alleged offences committed when he was 16 and 17 years old following a grossly unfair trial that lacked procedural safeguards. He had no access to legal representation during his pretrial detention and told the court that he was tortured to “confess”. The court did not investigate his claims of torture and other ill-treatment. 

An appeals court upheld Jalal Labbad’s sentence on 4 October 2022. In October 2023, Amnesty International received credible information that Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in secret.

Jalal Labbad’s brother, Fadel Labbad, was executed in 2019. A third brother, Mohammad Labbad, was sentenced to death in October 2022. Following a retrial, he was sentenced to death again in February 2025. 

The authorities have repeatedly imposed death sentences on members of the Shi’a community as they seek to silence dissent in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. While the Shia community comprises an estimated 10-12% of the total population, they accounted for around 42% (120 of 286) of all “terrorism”-related executions between January 2014 and June 2025.

The Saudi Human Rights Commission told Amnesty International in a May 2023 letter that ‘the application of the death penalty on juveniles for ta’zir crimes has been completely abolished’. Ta’zir crimes, for which Jalal Labbad was convicted, are crimes for which the death penalty is not mandated under Islamic law.

Thank you to all those who sent appeals. Jalal Labbad’s execution underscores the devastating toll of the Saudi authorities’ ruthless use of the death penalty in disregard of one of the most absolute prohibitions to its use—against people for crimes they allegedly committed as children. Amnesty International will continue campaigning for other people on death row in Saudi Arabia for alleged crimes they committed as children.