The Saudi Arabian regime continues to deny its citizens the freedom of opinion and expression.
Activists, intellectuals and religious figures continue to face repression, despite criticism from international human rights organisations and even the UN.
A Saudi court passed a custodial sentence on Saudi academic Muhammad bin Mohsen Baserrah, on the basis of several tweets he posted three years ago.
Baserrah is a lecturer in the Media Department at Umm Al-Qura University and a public relations consultant.
Security forces arrested Basurrah on 3 December, as his family confirmed. They alleged that Basurrah was taken without explanation.
His arrest and trial are part of a broader campaign against activists and other members of Saudi civil society.
The authorities have imposed a blackout on reporting detainees’ conditions, though various leaks suggest that they suffer medical neglect, torture, and other forms of mistreatment.
Recently, a prominent UN official accused the Saudi authorities of continuing to violate citizens’ human rights, and specifically of using the struggle against terrorism as a pretext for the use of arbitrary detention and the denial of freedoms of speech and assembly.
The criticism, from Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, was included in a report published at the opening of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council.
