(06 Nov 2024) MOGADISHU (Halqabsi News) – Somali nationals detained in Saudi Arabia, many facing the death penalty on drug trafficking charges, are calling for their sentences to be commuted to imprisonment. The detainees, numbering around 50, were arrested at different times and are believed to have been misled into smuggling narcotics, according to family members who spoke to the BBC on Tuesday.
Relatives of the prisoners, some of whom are young, assert that these individuals initially travelled to Saudi Arabia for work but were later tricked into carrying drugs across the Yemen-Saudi border. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdiweli, a cousin to one of the detainees, explained how traffickers exploited their vulnerable situation. “They were warned to carry substances like pills and hashish into Saudi Arabia in exchange for a promised sum of money,” he said.
Abdirahman disclosed that his cousin, arrested between 2018 and 2019, is one of 45 others whose sentences have not been reduced, despite other foreign nationals convicted on similar charges having received pardons. In Saudi Arabia, drug offences carry severe penalties, including prolonged imprisonment or public executions by beheading, a method of capital punishment that remains customary in the Kingdom.
The latest human rights report, published by Amnesty International, reveals an escalation in executions in Saudi Arabia, with over 198 executions conducted in 2024 alone. This increase comes despite the government’s repeated commitments to curbing capital punishment. According to the report, Saudi authorities are now executing approximately one person every two days, with many cases involving drug-related offences.
Abdirahman said the detainees were held alongside other nationals from Yemen and Ethiopia, some of whom have reportedly been executed. “When the executions started, many young men were terrified and began shouting in fear,” he recounted.
Relatives of the detained Somalis are urging the Somali government to intervene, seeking to have the death sentences replaced with prison terms. Somali Consul in Jeddah, Ahmed Mohamud Diriye (Ma’aruf), confirmed the presence of Somali detainees in Saudi prisons near the Yemeni border. He stated that Somali authorities have requested leniency from Saudi officials, arguing that some detainees were unaware of their offences or were coerced into carrying the drugs.
“Our government has asked Saudi officials to halt the executions, insisting that some prisoners were unaware of the crime,” said Consul Ma’aruf. He also noted that the Somali Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Saudi government have discussed the matter, with further talks planned between the Somali Minister of Justice and his Saudi counterpart.
While 106 countries worldwide have abolished the death penalty, Somalia retains capital punishment within its legal system, highlighting an ongoing global divide over the use of the death penalty.
Halqabsi News
