Cairo, 15 January 2014
The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), today, condemned Saudi courts judgments with regard to Internet activists and opinion makers because of their peaceful expression of their views on social networking websites.
The Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh issued, on January 12th, a 13 Year prison sentence for “Mujtaba Ali Safwani”-eighteen years old, resident of Awwamiyya- with a four year suspension of the sentence. He was charged with participating in the peaceful demonstrations that Eastern region has been witnessing since February.
The security forces arrested the young man in June 2012, at Awwamiyya police station, accompanied by one of his family members. He was transferred on the10th of January, from Juvenile Prison “House of social observation in Dammam” to General Investigation in Dammam. The Transfer was due to his completion of the legal age, after spending a year and four months in detention.
In the same context, Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh had issued, at Saturday 11th of January, a ten Year prison sentence for “Abdulhamid Amer”- from “Al Ahsa’ city”. He was charged with writing on (facebook) pages calling for the release of Sheikh Tawfiq Al-Amer.
ANHRI said, “the sentences issued to activists and citizens due to expressing their opinions in a peaceful way on social networking websites or participating in peaceful demonstration are considered a new episode in the series of targeting Saudi regime to its activists and opinion makers and gaging them through using the dependent judiciary, which gives harsh sentences to activists.”
ANHRI clarified that the Saudi regime -with its security and judicial apparatus- has become an obstacle to any democratic transformation on Saudi territory.
ANHRI calls for immediate release of the activists, who received verdicts, ensuring their safety as well as halting any form of prosecution that they face.
