TEHRAN – A Saudi court has sentenced human rights activists Mohammadal-Otaibi and Abdullah al-Attawi to 14 and seven years in prisonrespectively, rights group Amnesty International reported Thursday.link>link>link>link>
The Saudi activists had faced charges including setting up an independentorganization and making statements harmful to the kingdom.
Amnesty said Otaibi and Attawi were the first human rights defenderssentenced under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, Reutersreported.
Otaibi was arrested at Doha airport and deported from Qatar to Saudi Arabiain May after he tried to fly with his wife to Norway where he had beengranted political asylum.
The Saudi government’s communications office could not be reached forcomment.
Amnesty said the list of charges against them included setting up anorganization before receiving authorization, spreading chaos, incitingpublic opinion and publishing statements harmful to the kingdom and itsinstitutions.
It did not say how they pleaded. The sentences were handed down by a courtin the capital Riyadh on Thursday.
“The harsh sentencing of Mohammad al-Otaibi and Abdullah al-Attawi, whoshould never have been prosecuted in the first place, confirms our fearsthat the new leadership of Mohamed Bin Salman is determined to silencecivil society and human rights defenders in the Kingdom,” Amnesty’s MiddleEast director Samah Hadid said in a statement.
Crown Prince Mohammed has taken power in Western-allied Saudi Arabia,pushing a so-called reform agenda aimed at weaning the country off oilwealth and introducing social changes.
However, New York-based Human Rights Watch said last week that more than adozen prominent political activists convicted on “vague charges arisingfrom their peaceful activities” were serving lengthy prison sentences.
Since the 2011 Islamic Awakening, Saudi authorities have stepped up effortsto curb dissent with tough new cybercrime laws, sentencing offenders toprison terms for online posts deemed insulting to the kingdom orthreatening to public order.
An absolute monarchy, Saudi Arabia bans political parties and public formsof protest and has sentenced members of a civil rights organization whocampaigned for a constitutional monarchy to decades in prison.