Mother of Saudi youth facing beheading
urges Obama to intervene
The mother of a youth facing beheading for
taking part in protests in Saudi Arabia has
pleaded with US President Barack Obama to
“rescue my son” in an interview published by
the British daily the Guardian Thursday.
The sentence against Shiite Ali al-Nimr, only
17 when he was arrested in February 2012,
has drawn international condemnation over
his young age and allegations that he was
tortured into making a confession.
“When I visited my son for the first time I
didn’t recognise him,” Nusra al-Ahmed told
the newspaper.
“I could clearly see a wound on his forehead.
Another wound on his nose. They disfigured
it. Even his body, he was too thin.
“For a month he was peeing blood,” she
added. “He said he felt like a mass of pain, his
body was no more.”
In an interview with AFP last month, his
father Mohammed al-Nimr said he hoped the
king would save his son and warned that if
his son is put to death the minority Shiite
community could react violently.
Mother Nusra al-Ahmed called the sentence —
which she said would involve her son being
crucified after he is decapitated — “backwards
in the extreme”.
“No sane and normal human being would rule
against a child of 17 years old using such a
sentence. And why? He didn’t shed any blood,
he didn’t steal any property.”
She called on Obama to exert his influence on
the Saudi authorities.
“He is the head of this world and he can
interfere and rescue my son,” she said.
“If he carried out this act, I feel it would raise
his esteem in the eyes of the world. He would
be rescuing us from a great tragedy.”
The youth is a nephew of Nimr al-Nimr, a
Shiite religious leader who is also on death
row having been identified by Saudi
authorities as a driving force behind
demonstrations that began four years ago in
Eastern Province.
Most of Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia’s
Shiites live in the east, and have complained
of marginalisation.
Ali al-Nimr’s father admitted that his son, then
a high school student, had joined thousands of
other people in the protests.
But he insisted that Ali was innocent on
numerous other charges including burglary,
attacking police and using a Molotov cocktail.
The court sentenced Ali al-Nimr to death but
gave no further details.
Execution in the kingdom is usually carried
out by the sword, sometimes in public.
urges Obama to intervene
The mother of a youth facing beheading for
taking part in protests in Saudi Arabia has
pleaded with US President Barack Obama to
“rescue my son” in an interview published by
the British daily the Guardian Thursday.
The sentence against Shiite Ali al-Nimr, only
17 when he was arrested in February 2012,
has drawn international condemnation over
his young age and allegations that he was
tortured into making a confession.
“When I visited my son for the first time I
didn’t recognise him,” Nusra al-Ahmed told
the newspaper.
“I could clearly see a wound on his forehead.
Another wound on his nose. They disfigured
it. Even his body, he was too thin.
“For a month he was peeing blood,” she
added. “He said he felt like a mass of pain, his
body was no more.”
In an interview with AFP last month, his
father Mohammed al-Nimr said he hoped the
king would save his son and warned that if
his son is put to death the minority Shiite
community could react violently.
Mother Nusra al-Ahmed called the sentence —
which she said would involve her son being
crucified after he is decapitated — “backwards
in the extreme”.
“No sane and normal human being would rule
against a child of 17 years old using such a
sentence. And why? He didn’t shed any blood,
he didn’t steal any property.”
She called on Obama to exert his influence on
the Saudi authorities.
“He is the head of this world and he can
interfere and rescue my son,” she said.
“If he carried out this act, I feel it would raise
his esteem in the eyes of the world. He would
be rescuing us from a great tragedy.”
The youth is a nephew of Nimr al-Nimr, a
Shiite religious leader who is also on death
row having been identified by Saudi
authorities as a driving force behind
demonstrations that began four years ago in
Eastern Province.
Most of Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia’s
Shiites live in the east, and have complained
of marginalisation.
Ali al-Nimr’s father admitted that his son, then
a high school student, had joined thousands of
other people in the protests.
But he insisted that Ali was innocent on
numerous other charges including burglary,
attacking police and using a Molotov cocktail.
The court sentenced Ali al-Nimr to death but
gave no further details.
Execution in the kingdom is usually carried
out by the sword, sometimes in public.
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