Saudis condemned for jailing rights activist

The 10-year jail sentence passed on civil rights activist Abd Al-Karim Al-Khadr in Saudi Arabia on Monday has prompted a storm of condemnation on social media. Al-Khadr is a member of the Civil and Political Rights Society (Hasm) in Saudi Arabia and a professor of comparative jurisprudence in the College of Shari’ah at Al-Qasim University. He was accused of calling for people to break the law by demonstrating in public squares.

The Saudi-born activist was also accused of openly slandering members of the Senior Scholars’ Committee; debasing and insulting the judiciary; publicly defaming and discrediting judges; describing the Saudi ruling regime as a police regime that is founded on injustice and oppression; and inciting public opinion against the security agencies, which he accused of torture, assassination, repression, forced disappearances and the violation of human rights.

“At the time when more than 300 people have signed a petition demanding the release of all prisoners of conscience,” said Yahya Al-Asiri, President of Al-Qist human rights society, “and the number of the signatories is rising, the authorities respond with handing prison sentences to Abd Al-Aziz Al-Sunaidi, Abd Al-Rahman Al-Hamid and Abd Al-Karim Al-Khadr.” The three were jailed for 8, 9 and 10 years respectively. Critics of the Saudi government used social media to insist that such repression of “peaceful reformers will only serve the cause of those who pursue violence.”

According to Fatimah Al-Hammoudi, the authorities “deliberately” went for a retrial in order to double the prison sentence. “Al-Khadr could have been released after one year, because the previous sentence against him was for eight years, three actual and five suspended. But after two years, they went for a retrial so as to sentence him to ten years.”

The activists shared statements attributed to Al-Khadr following his detention in April 2013: “Those who disturb public peace are the ones who show complete disregard for the will of the people, those who have robbed the nation of its wealth, those who destroyed the people’s economy and resources and those who alienated the public from the entire political scene.”

Additional charges laid against Al-Khadr included “taking part in the founding of an unlicensed society, chairing it and establishing it as a reality with the aim of spreading dissent, and preparing, storing and propagating what may undermine the public order.” All of these acts, said the authorities, are considered illegal as stated in the system of information crimes. He was also accused of defending a defendant, who is a public servant, before a criminal court in Buraydah while not qualified to defend him.