A Saudi Arabian political activist was sentenced to four years in prison, 300 lashes, and a travel ban after calling for a constitutional monarchy. He is the fourth member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) to be jailed this year.
ACPRA’s Omar al-Saed, 24, was jailed after the organization
called for democracy and made statements criticizing the
country’s ruling family over its human rights record, Reuters
reported.
Al-Saed berated the motivations behind his imprisonment via the
ACPRA website in a statement released by the group on Friday:
“I am the proud prisoner Omar Mohammed al-Saed. I read out to
you the motives and causes of my imprisonment: my hatred of
injustice, the fabrication of pain and misery, taking advantage
of passive attitudes, treating them as if they were fools, and
denying them their livelihoods for brutal personal
ambition,” he said.
Al-Saed was not allowed legal representation at the secret
hearing in which he received his sentence, according to an ACPRA
statement. The judge denied that the session had been kept
secret, but al-Saed rebutted that for a session to be public, it
must be announced prior to its taking place so that proper
representatives are able to attend and people can bear witness to
its proceedings.
“This unjust sentence is an honor and pride to Omar al-Saed
and a disgrace and shame to Judge Issa al-Matrudi,” the
activist’s brother, Abdullah al-Saed, tweeted after learning of
the sentence late on Thursday.
“It's just another troubling instance of Saudi authorities'
absolute refusal to countenance any activism or criticism of
Saudi policies or human rights abuses,” Adam Coogle, a
Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch told Reuters on
Sunday.
A spokesman for the country’s Justice Ministry would not confirm
the accuracy of the report to the agency.
Media in the country is strictly self-censored. Political dissent
or criticism of the royal family is not tolerated, and protests
are outlawed.
At the end of November, two Saudi men were arrested for offering
‘free hugs’ to passersby, on the grounds that they were
“indulging in exotic practices” and offending public
order.
Amnesty International has spoken out against the regime’s
oppressive practices, releasing a report titled “Saudi Arabia:
Unfulfilled Promises” in October.
The report slammed the country for failing to implement any of
the main recommendations they accepted under a previous review by
the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) which took place in 2009.
Saudi Arabia remains one of the top five executioners in the
world. The death penalty is still applied to a wide range of
non-lethal crimes such as adultery, armed robbery, apostasy, drug
smuggling, kidnapping, rape, “witchcraft,” and “sorcery.” Since
2009, appeals by the growing human rights movement in the country
have been met with harsh measures such as arbitrary arrests,
detention without charge or trial, unfair trials, and travel
bans, Amnesty stated.