HRW: Saudi repression of peaceful activists at alarming high level

A new HRW report documents an alarming rise in Saudi Arabia’s politically-motivated persecution of dissidents, while detailing the cases of four activists either jailed or sentenced at the beginning of 2017.

  A new HRW report documents an alarming rise in Saudi Arabia’s politically-motivated persecution of dissidents, while detailing the cases of four activists either jailed or sentenced at the beginning of 2017. The report says that a rise in politically-motivated arrests that began in 2011 has seen at least 20 dissenters receive severe punishments comparable to man-slaughter sentences in the West – 10 to 15 years imprisonment. The charges they have faced all seem to involve being disloyal to the king, in one form or another – “breaking allegiance with the ruler” and “participating in a protest” are some examples cited by HRW. Amnesty has been another vocal critic of Saudi Arabia, particularly for its leadership in the bombardment of Yemen. In December of 2016, the organization struck out against the Saudi regime, tallying up the number of death sentences it had doled out in 2015 and arriving at the figure 158, putting the kingdom at number three, next to Iran and Pakistan.