JEDDAH, 14 February 2008 — The lawyer representing the father of a boy who was executed last year after allegedly confessing to abducting, raping and accidentally killing a younger boy lashed out yesterday at comments made by the local chief of police. The crime took place when the boy was 13; the boy was executed when he was 16.
Abdullah Al-Zmami, the lawyer, says that Jizan police chief Gen. Ahmad Gurmallah Al-Gazzaz’s response indicates that he is unaware of “laws that have been in place for the last 40 years.” He was referring to the details of how the juvenile offense was handled as described in the police chief’s response.
Al-Gazzaz was replying to Al-Madinah newspaper columnist Mahmoud Abu Taleb’s requests to explain the circumstances that led to Mueed Al-Hakami’s execution.
In the police chief’s reply, published on Monday, he describes how Mueed was taken into police custody after his father informed them that the boy had confessed to the crime. Mueed was then taken to a juvenile court so that the judge could determine if he was a minor based on the presence of pubic hair.
Al-Zmami told Arab News that the judge denies such a hearing took place, and that under Saudi law police cannot detain and process minors under the age of 15 without immediately involving the legal guardian. In this case, the child was interrogated with no guardian or other representative present. The lawyer says that because the boy was a minor his case should never have been passed out of the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. The lawyer says that the judge of the juvenile court, Ali Mashour Al-Homadi, denies having ruled that the boy was an adult.
The police chief also claimed in his published comments that the boy’s father, Hussein Al-Hakami, had fingerprinted an affidavit saying his son confessed to the crime, something the father has repeatedly denied.
The lawyer also claims there was no medical report to indicate that the victim — a boy whose age has not been disclosed but was younger than Mueed — had in fact been raped. Al-Zmami also claims that the boy was not assessed for his mental state, something that is required under Saudi law.
In his published response, Al-Gazzaz also says that during interrogation at a juvenile detention center, the boy described how he tried to hide the body and described how the child accidentally choked to death after he covered the victim’s face and sexually assaulted him. His confession was recorded in the presence of his parents, said Al-Gazzaz.
The police chief said in his published comments that after the completion of investigations, the case was transferred to the governorate which then passed it on to the Prosecution and Investigation Board, where the boy was tried as an adult. He was subsequently sentenced to death and later beheaded.
The father is seeking compensation of SR10 million from local authorities for the way his son was tried and executed. He is also calling for the execution of the officials that he says shirked their legal responsibilities and killed his son.
On Feb. 3, the Court of Grievances (which handles citizens’ complaints against government officials) postponed the hearing after the representative of the plaintiff in the case — the Department of Public Security, which is under the Interior Ministry — failed to show up. The next hearing is scheduled for April 6.
Saudi Arabia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child that prohibits the death penalty for capital crimes committed by minors, defined in the charter as anyone under the age of 18.
