Saudi Arabia Announce End To Death Penalty For Minors

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has ordered an end to the death penalty for crimes committed by minors, according to a top official.

The decision follows another ordering judges to end the practice of flogging, replacing it with jail terms, fines or community service and bringing one of the kingdom’s most controversial forms of public punishment to an end.

King Salman’s son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is seen as the force behind the kingdom’s loosening of restrictions and its pivot away from ultraconservative interpretations of Islamic law known as Wahhabism, which many in the country still closely adhere to.