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Mother of condemned Saudi man appeals to Obama for help Mother of condemned Saudi man appeals to Obama for help
(about 17 hours later)
The mother of a Saudi man sentenced to death for participating in an anti-government protest has appealed to US President Barack Obama for help. The mother of a Saudi man sentenced to death over his involvement in an anti-government protest has appealed to US President Barack Obama for help.
Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested at age 17 for joining a Shia protest in Saudi Arabia. Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr was arrested in 2012, when he was 17, and convicted of sedition, rioting and robbery.
His mother Nusra al-Ahmed has called his sentence of beheading and crucifixion "backwards in the extreme". His mother Nusra al-Ahmed called his sentence of crucifixion - beheading followed by the public display of his body - "backwards in the extreme".
A senior Obama administration official said the US is "deeply concerned" by the case. An Obama administration official said it was "deeply concerned" by the case.
Ms al-Ahmed told the Guardian: "[Mr Obama] is the head of this world and he can, he can interfere and rescue my son ... He would be rescuing us from a great tragedy." Mrs Ahmed told the Guardian on Wednesday: "[Mr Obama] is the head of this world and he can, he can interfere and rescue my son... He would be rescuing us from a great tragedy."
An appeal for al-Nimr has been denied by the Saudi Arabian government and the country's UK embassy has said it "rejects any form of interference in its internal affairs" after UK leaders brought up the case. Ali al-Nimr was sentenced to death by the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC), a special security and counter-terrorism court, in May 2014.
Amnesty International and human rights group Reprieve have called for clemency for al-Nimr. The sentence was upheld both by the appeal division of the SCC and by the Supreme Court earlier this year, without his or his lawyer's knowledge, according to Amnesty International.
He was arrested in 2012 after participating in the protests in 2011. He could be executed as soon as King Salman ratifies the sentence.
State media later reported he had been found guilty of a long list of crimes including sedition, breaking allegiance to the king, rioting, using petrol bombs against security patrols, robbing a pharmacy and more. Human rights groups have called for clemency for Ali al-Nimr, but the country's embassy in the UK has said it "rejects any form of interference in its internal affairs".
His family strongly denies the charges. Saudi state media reported that Ali al-Nimr was found guilty of sedition, breaking allegiance to the king, rioting, bearing arms, using petrol bombs against security patrols, robbing a pharmacy and stealing surveillance cameras. He was also convicted of chanting anti-government slogans at illegal protests and inciting others to demonstrate, they added.
"We call on the Government of Saudi Arabia to respect universal human rights and its international obligations as well as to ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings that afford requisite fair trial procedures and safeguards in this and all cases," the Obama administration official said. His family strongly denies the charges and say the conviction was based on "confessions" Ali al-Nimr says were extracted under torture.
"We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to respect universal human rights and its international obligations as well as to ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings that afford requisite fair trial procedures and safeguards in this and all cases," a senior Obama administration official said on Wednesday.
"We have raised this case with the Saudi government including very recently, and addressed it in our 2014 Human Rights Report.""We have raised this case with the Saudi government including very recently, and addressed it in our 2014 Human Rights Report."
Because he was arrested when he was only 17, his sentence technically violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Saudi Arabia is a signatory on the UN charter on human rights. Human rights activists say that in sentencing a juvenile offender to death, Saudi Arabia has violated its obligations under international customary law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which it is a state party.
Saudi ambassador to the UN Abdallah al-Mouallimi told the BBC's Newsnight that in al-Nimr's case, the "legal process has not been exhausted," but asked the world to not interfere in the country's internal affairs.