Recently, the Saudi regime has increased its repressive measures against its critics and opponents by issuing harsh sentences against prisoners of conscience, following the US President Joe Biden’s visit to the kingdom two months ago, which human rights activists believed it gave a green light to more human rights violations.
Saudi courts have issued harsh sentences against a number of prisoners of conscience in the country, ranging from 8 to 25 year in prison.
The Specialised Criminal Court issued a sentence of 18 years in prison for media activist Mansour Al-Ruqaiba, who was arrested at the end of 2021 for sharing posts on the internet.
The Court of Appeals issued a 25-year prison sentence for academic Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Mahmoud, who has been detained since September 2021 for sharing a video of himself talking about the spread of corruption in the Kingdom.
The Specialised Criminal Court issued two sentences of 8 years imprisonment, against Dr. Rashid Al-Almaii and Dr. Qassem Al-Qirdi Al-Almaii, who have been detained since July 2021, while it sentenced Mohamed Kadwan Al-Almaii to 20 years in prison, and he has been detained in July of last year as part of the arrest campaign against a number of Saudi academics and activists.
The Specialised Criminal Court issued a 15-year prison sentence against Dr. Ibrahim Al-Dawish, who has been detained since April 2020.
The Saudi authorities are imposing a blackout on the conditions of many detainees, while news leaks confirm the deterioration of the health of many of them, or their being subjected to torture and ill-treatment.
A prominent UN official accused the Saudi authorities of still violating human rights, using its fight against terrorism as a pretext for arbitrary detention and violating the freedom of opinion and expression.
The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Fionwala Ni Ulin, published a report within the work of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council on global practices related to secret detention, to follow up on the recommendations of a 2010 study on combating terrorism and human rights.
