Newcastle United supporters celebrate the Saudi-backed takeover outside of St James' Park on October 7, 2021placeholder image
Newcastle United supporters celebrate the Saudi-backed takeover outside of St James' Park on October 7, 2021 | AFP via Getty Images
A dozen Newcastle politicians have written to Saudi authorities over the execution of a man for alleged crimes committed as a child.
City leaders have faced sustained pressure from campaigners over recent years to speak out over human rights abuses in the Gulf state, since the takeover of Newcastle United in 2021 by a consortium led by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Activists have claimed that growing links between Tyneside and Saudi Arabia, with council bosses keen to push for investment from the kingdom, have led to the city’s reputation being “dragged through the mud”.
It has now been confirmed that 12 Newcastle councillors recently wrote to the Saudi embassy and directly to the Saudi king as part of a campaign calling for Abdullah al-Derazi’s conviction to be quashed.
According to Amnesty International, he had been sentenced to death for his alleged participation in protests against the government’s treatment of the Shia minority in 2011 and 2012 – when he was aged 17.
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The human rights organisation said that he was convicted after a “grossly unfair trial that relied on a torture-tainted ‘confession’”. Mr Al-Derazi is reported to have been executed on October 20, two months after the execution of Jalal Abbad on similar charges.
In their letter, organised by independent councillor Jane Byrne, the councillors wrote that Newcastle’s links to Saudi Arabia “bring a duty to speak clearly when fundamental rights are at stake”.
Its signatories included former city council leader Nick Kemp, Liberal Democrats Greg Stone and Philip Browne, Nick Hartley on behalf of the Newcastle Green Party, and Newcastle Independents leader Tracey Mitchell.
Urging King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to quash the conviction, they wrote: “We are deeply concerned by the court’s decision to sentence Abdullah al-Derazi to the death penalty for alleged offences during protests in 2011-2012, when he was still a child. We are committed to standing up for human rights. We write from Newcastle in the United Kingdom, a city that has many ties with Saudi Arabia. These links bring a duty to speak clearly when fundamental rights are at stake.
“A child is a child, whether in the UK or in Saudi Arabia. Your own Human Rights Commission has committed to ending the death penalty for those who committed crimes as children, and your Royal Decree to that effect was welcomed internationally.
“We are alarmed by reports that Mr. al-Derazi’s trial was grossly unfair, including that the conviction relied on a confession alleged to have been obtained under torture, that his family or lawyers were not properly notified, and serious procedural defects were present.”
Earlier this year, city council leader Karen Kilgour met with human rights activists who have called for Tyneside authorities to closely monitor “any use of the city and region as a sportswashing vehicle”.
She has condemned human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia but has repeatedly argued that it is an issue for the UK government to lobby on, rather than a local council.
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