Saudi Arabia ends executions for individuals who committed crimes as minors as it tries to shape up its troubling human rights record

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• Saudi Arabia says it will no longer impose the death penalty on individuals who committed crimes when they were minors.
• Last week, the country also banned flogging as a potential punishment, opting to impose fines or prison sentences instead.
• The president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, Awwad Alawwad, said in a statement that the move was aimed at "establishing a more modern penal code" and added that "more reforms will be coming."
• Saudi Arabia has faced criticism for its troubling human-rights record in the past and is one of the few countries in the world to still carry out executions via beheading. 
• A new report by Amnesty International published last week indicated that Saudi Arabia beheaded a record 184 people in 2019, a 23% increase from the year prior.
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Saudi Arabia says it will no longer impose the death penalty on individuals who committed crimes when they were minors in an attempt to shape up its troubling human rights record. 

The Saudi Human Rights Commission, a Saudi government organization that claims to be independent, announced the easing of the country's strict penal code on Sunday night. 

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