Saudi Arabia: Second case against jailed Shia cleric

Saudi authorities are seeking to lengthen the prison sentence of a cleric known for supporting protests against the systematic discrimination of Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority, Human Rights Watch said today.

Saudi authorities are seeking to lengthen the prison sentence of a cleric known for supporting protests against the systematic discrimination of Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority, Human Rights Watch said today. 

The cleric, Sheikh Mohammad bin Hassan al-Habib, is serving a seven-year prison sentence for allegedly violating a pledge made to prosecutors, but he faces a second criminal case in which he is again accused of supporting protests and attempting to leave Saudi Arabia for Kuwait illegally. A hearing in the second case is scheduled for May 5, 2019 and is expected to include the verdict. The hearing follows a mass execution on April 23 that included 33 Saudi Shia men who had been convicted following unfair trials of various alleged crimes, including protest-related offenses, espionage, and terrorism. 

“Saudi Shia hoped that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s supposed ‘reforms’ would reduce entrenched discrimination against them, but judicial harassment of religious leaders and mass executions are just more of the same abusive treatment by authorities,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The increasing repression across Saudi Arabia today is part and parcel of what Saudi Shia have faced for many years.” 

Saudi Arabia does not generally tolerate public worship by adherents of other religions and systematically discriminates against Muslim religious minorities, notably Twelver Shia and Ismailis, including in public education, the justice system, religious freedom, and employment.