아프리카ㆍ중동

This paper amis to deal with the human rights problems in the criminal justice system in Saudi Arabia focusing on the death penalty and corporal punishment. It also attempts to analyze the reasons why many international human rights organizations say that Shri‘a is not compatible with the modern human right concept. Lastly it tries to suggest measures the Saudi government should take to improve human rights conditions. In 2015 Saudi Arabia was the country with the third highest number of executions in the world after China and Iran. According to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia executed at least 158 people (four women and 154 men) in 2015, the highest number of executions recorded in the country since 1995. If we classify the 158 executions by types, two important facts are discovered like following: First, of the 158 executions, 46.8% have been executed for alleged non-violent offences. According to international law and standards, like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the death penalty should be limited on the “most serious crimes”, a term which has been most recently interpreted to mean “intentional killing”. Saudi Arabia, however, continues to apply the death penalty to a wide range of non-lethal crimes that do not meet the threshold of the “most serious crimes” under international law. These include drug-related crimes, armed robbery, kidnapping, and rape. Saudi Arabia also continues to apply the death penalty to “offences” that are not recognizably criminal offences under international law. These include apostasy, adultery, witchcraft and sorcery.