Saudi Arabia executes former child protester Jawad Qureiris

Saudi Arabia executed a man who was detained as a child, alongside another Saudi national from the Kingdom’s Shia-majority Eastern Province.

In a statement on Saturday, the Saudi Press Agency confirmed that Riyadh had executed Jawad Qureiris.

Hailing from a prominent Shia-majority family in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province, Qureiris was a former child defendant who was just 14 to 15 years old during the 2011-12 Arab Spring protests.

Qureiris’ family has a documented history of encounters with state security: one of his brothers was killed by security forces, while another was arrested at age 13 and faced capital charges related to alleged offences committed when he was nine years old.