Saudi Human Rights Activist Sentenced To Eight Years In Prison, Amnesty Says He Was Exposing Systematic Human Rights Violations

A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced a human rights activist to eight years in prison on Sunday in what Amnesty International is calling part of the ongoing campaign to by Saudi authorities to stamp out activism.

Abdulaziz al-Shubaily was the only founding member of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights, also known by the acronym ACPRA, an independent human rights organization, who was not serving a lengthy prison sentence. He acted as a legal representative for nine other founding members. The guilty verdict was the latest to be issued against the members of ACPRA. He was tried by a Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) established to try terrorism cases, but in practice has increasingly been used for trials against political activists. He sentenced under a counter-terrorism law, which Amnesty International condemned as “repressive.”

He faced charges of “communicating with foreign organizations” and providing information on Saudi human rights violations to Amnesty International for two of its reports. He was also placed under an eight-year travel ban, during which time he is forbidden from using social media. He was also accused of “inciting people to breach the public order by calling for demonstrations” and “insulting the judicial authorities” by accusing Saudi security forces of repression, assassination, forced disappearances, and torture. He reportedly was also charged with calling the Saudi political system “a repressive police state” and working for “an unlicensed organization.”

Saudi Arabia sentences activist Abdulaziz al-Shubaily to 8 years in jail for exposing human rights violations. pic.twitter.com/uPhq9vhxyG

— amnestypress (@amnestypress) May 29, 2016

Amnesty International condemned the verdict as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to silence the defenders of human rights and suppress free speech and press freedom in the country.

“Abdulaziz al-Shubaily’s conviction is an attempt to put the final nail in ACPRA’s coffin. The organization has borne the brunt of the authorities’ relentless attacks on civil society over the past few years. After shutting ACPRA down three years ago, the authorities have prosecuted and jailed its founding members one by one in a merciless bid to suppress criticism of Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record,” James Lynch, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

He added, “The authorities have once again proven that they are determined to conceal the truth about Saudi Arabia’s dire human rights record. The authorities must urgently ensure his conviction is quashed and they should not detain him.”

The ruling came as the result of controversial Saudi anti-terrorism laws passed in 2014, which define acts such as “defaming the state’s reputation” as terrorism. Lynch urged the international community to exert pressure on Saudi Arabia to end what he called and “iron-fist clampdown” on civil society.

“The continuing silence of the international community over the relentless persecution of human rights activists in Saudi Arabia in the recent years is shameful,” Lynch said to Amnesty. “Saudi Arabia’s international allies must press the authorities to end this iron-fist clampdown on civil society, which absurdly is being carried out in the name of counter-terrorism. They should also publicly denounce the jailing and persecution of human rights defenders.”

Tiny Kosovo is a victim of Saudi Arabia's efforts to promote a radical form of Islam. https://t.co/Cb9IBkbeTD pic.twitter.com/rIkk1Lp3WS

— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) May 28, 2016

The crackdown on rights organizations has been exceptionally harsh, according to ABC News.

“In 2013, prominent founding HASEM activists, Mohammed al-Qahtani and Abdullah al-Hamid, were sentenced to 10 and 11 years respectively. Soon after, other verdicts against the group followed against nearly a dozen members. In April of this year, Issa al-Hamid, another founding member of HASEM and Abdullah al-Hamid’s brother, was sentenced to nine years in prison in what Amnesty International described at the time as part of a wider ‘ruthless onslaught against civil society’ by Saudi authorities.”

The group was shut down three years ago, not long after the beginning of the “Arab Spring” protests swept across the region with demands for political reforms, greater transparency, and social justice. Al-Shubaily reportedly refused to recognize the legitimacy of the court who tried and sentenced him.

Riyadh has long faced criticism from the international community and human rights organizations for its poor human rights record, including the absolute rule of the Saudi royal family, lack of rights for women, its liberal use of executions, numerous restrictions on freedom of speech, and the harsh way the state and the police deal with dissent. Notable Saudi activists frequently receive severe punishments at the hands of the legal system. Raif Badawi, a 31-year-old blogger, was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for his writings. He has been behind bars since 2012. In January, Saudi Arabia also executed prominent Shia cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, worsening its relations with Iran and drawing condemnation from nations around the world.

Last month, the United Nations committee on torture called on the government of Saudi Arabia to stop punishments such as flogging, amputations, and beheading, which are carried out against convicts in the country.

[Photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty Images]