Saudi court hands down death sentence to Shia political dissident

A court in Saudi Arabia has handed down a death penalty to a Shia activist as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its brutal clampdown against members of the religious community.

A court in Saudi Arabia has handed down a death penalty to a Shia activist as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its brutal clampdown against members of the religious community.

On Wednesday, the Specialized Criminal Court in the capital Riyadh found the defendant, whose identity was not immediately available, guilty for allegedly “joining a terror group called Tarot Battalion to destabilize the kingdom’s internal security, targeting security personnel, carrying out acts of sabotage and chaos, obstructing roads, and involvement in divisive activities.”

On February 11, the same Saudi court sentenced a dissident to 20 years in jail on charges of throwing petrol bombs at the General Intelligence Building in Qatif, burning tires and preventing regime forces from reaching the site of anti-regime rallies.

The court also imposed a travel ban of similar period on the unidentified man.

Late last month, Saudi officials put on trial a pro-democracy campaigner and anti-regime activist without the presence of a defense lawyer and letting members of his family know about the trial session.

Not having heard of their son for a while, they contacted the Criminal Investigation Department in the eastern city of Dammam, where they found Sadiq had already been put on trial.

In January 2016, Saudi authorities executed Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, who was an outspoken critic of the policies of the Riyadh regime. Nimr had been arrested in Qatif in 2012.