Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Arabian authorities today continued their cynical use of a repressive and overly vague counter-terrorism law to purge the Kingdom’s small and embattled civil society by convicting the human rights defender Abdulkareem al-Khoder and imprisoning him for 10 years, Amnesty International said.

Abdulkareem al-Khoder, a co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was jailed in June 2013 for eight years after a trial before a criminal court. His sentence was overturned last year but he remained arbitrarily detained in prison. His latest conviction was handed down by Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) under a counter-terrorism law that took effect in February 2014.

“By using abusive counter-terrorism legislation and a deeply deficient specialized court to intimidate and lock up human rights defenders, Saudi Arabia is sending a chilling message that anyone who speaks out will be purged,” said James Lynch, Acting Deputy Program Director at Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program.

There are rising fears about the impending executions of Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr and two other young Shi’a activists in Saudi Arabia who were arrested as juveniles after participating in anti-government rallies, Amnesty International said today after learning that they had been moved to solitary confinement.

The organization has been able to confirm that Ali al-Nimr, Dawood Hussein al-Marhoon and Abdullah Hasan al-Zaher were moved to solitary confinement in al-Ha’ir prison in Riyadh on 5 October. They were arrested at different times in 2012, when they were all under the age of 18, and sentenced to death in 2014. All three death sentences were upheld by Saudi Arabia’s appeal court and the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Pro-government media reports that Ali al-Nimr could face crucifixion after his beheading have sparked a global outcry. On 14 October, his mother appealed to US President Barack Obama to step in to save her son.

Released 00:01 BST Tuesday 25 August 2015

• Death sentences imposed after unfair trials lacking basic safeguards
• At least 102 executed in first six months of 2015 compared to 90 in all of 2014
• Average of one person executed every two days, most by beheading
• Almost half of executions in recent years are for non-lethal crimes
• At least 2,208 people executed between January 1985 and June 2015
• Nearly half of those executed since 1985 were foreign nationals
• Juvenile offenders, people with mental disabilities among those executed

Each of the remaining 950 lashes the Saudi Arabian authorities plan to inflict upon dissident blogger Raif Badawi will bludgeon freedom of expression and make a mockery of the country’s international human rights obligations, Amnesty International warned amid fears his public flogging could resume as soon as tomorrow.

These fears have been heightened after Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court announced in the media on 6 June it had upheld a sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for Raif Badawi, with no room to appeal the ruling.

The Saudi Arabian authorities must take immediate steps to protect the country’s Shi’a Muslim minority from sectarian violence and put an end to decades of systematic discrimination, Amnesty International said today after the second deadly attack on a Shi’a mosque in the past week.

Today’s attack in al-Dammam in the country’s Eastern Province left at least three people dead and an unknown number injured during Friday prayers. It comes exactly one week after 22 people were killed in an attack on another Shi’a mosque in nearby Qudaih on 22 May.

According to Saudi Arabian state TV the armed group calling itself Islamic State has claimed responsibility for both attacks.

“Members of Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a Muslim community have been subjected to cruel attacks during Friday prayers for the second week in a row. There can be absolutely no justification for attacking worshippers in a mosque,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director at Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

The Honourable Rob Nicholson
Minister of Foreign Affairs
 

May 28, 2015

Dear Minister Nicholson,

Over the past several months, Amnesty International has – in letters to the government and in comments in the media – highlighted our serious concerns about the human rights implications of the $15 billion deal reached between London, Ontario-based General Dynamics and the Saudi Arabian government for the sale of potentially hundreds of armored vehicles over the next decade.

The Canadian government, as you know, has an obligation to carry out a human rights assessment of the deal to ensure that, among other things, “there is no reasonable risk that the good might be used against the civilian population.”  Given the very serious and widespread human rights violations regularly committed by Saudi officials, and given the nature of and potential uses of the vehicles that are the subject of this lucrative deal, a thorough and transparent human rights assessment is urgently required. 

Posted at 0001hrs BST  7 May 2015

One year after Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail, Amnesty International has joined with his wife to renew appeals for his immediate and unconditional release.  

“It is truly tragic that a whole year has passed since Raif Badawi received this cruel and unjust sentence. He is clearly being punished for daring to exercise his right to freedom of expression,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program.

“It is not enough for the Saudi Arabian authorities to suspend the public floggings in bid to escape international criticism and sweep Raif Badawi’s case under the carpet. As long as the sentence stands he remains unjustly imprisoned and at risk of flogging, casting a further stain on Saudi Arabia’s already bleak human rights record. It is high time his conviction is quashed and for the authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally.”