RIYADH (Dispatches) -- Rights groups warned on Tuesday that a Saudi man faces imminent execution for offences he allegedly committed as a teenager, days after the kingdom executed five Shia men from the Eastern Province in a case that has drawn international condemnation and renewed scrutiny of the kingdom’s use of the death penalty against political dissidents.
Youssef al-Manasif, 30, was sentenced to death on “terrorism” charges over his participation in Arab Spring protests and funeral processions in the Eastern Province in 2011 and 2012, when he was 15 and 16, according to Human Rights Watch. 
His appeal was rejected and the Supreme Court has reportedly issued a final execution order, leaving him at imminent risk of execution.
Manasif was arrested in 2017; HRW and the legal charity Reprieve allege he was tortured and coerced into signing confessions, and that he did not meet a state-appointed lawyer until 2022, five years after his detention. 
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention previously found that his detention was arbitrary and involved serious fair-trial violations.
The case comes days after Saudi Arabia executed five men on Saturday, all from Qatif, a predominantly Shia region in the oil-rich Eastern Province that has seen repeated protests since 2011. 
The five were identified as Muhammad bin Munir al-Zahir, Ali bin Abdul Hussein al-Sheikh, Hassan bin Zaki al-Faraj, Reda bin Muhammad Al Bu Abdullah and Ali bin Hassan Al Rabah. 
HRW said Faraj was convicted for offences committed when he was 14. Saudi authorities said the men were convicted of joining a terrorist organization, shooting at security forces and financing terrorist operations; no independent details of their trials have been published.
The Shia dimension is central to both cases. All five executed men were from the kingdom’s Shia minority, and rights groups describe the executions as part of a broader crackdown on Shia activists and political dissidents in the Eastern Province. 
Since January, Saudi Arabia has executed 15 people for “terrorism,” mainly in the east, compared with 40 in 2025, according to an AFP tally.
The executions and the pending Manasif case have drawn condemnation from rights organizations, which say the trials fell far short of international fair-trial standards. 
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention previously found that the detention of Faraj, Manasif and three others was arbitrary and involved serious fair-trial violations.