RIYADH (Dispatches) – Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning to impose harsh sentences on nearly a dozen young Shia men from the oil-rich Qatif region over trumped-up allegations of involvement in “terrorist activities”, as the kingdom continues its crackdown on Shia Muslims and democracy campaigners.
Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Ahed news website, citing informed opposition sources, reported that the eleven residents of Umm al-Hamam village were arrested by regime forces during an operation last year, similar to frequent raids that the troops conduct in the region.
The sources condemned Saudi officials’ bids against the young men as “an attempt by the Riyadh regime to politically blackmail those it considers opponents.”
They went on to say that there is no evidence to incriminate the defendants, stressing that they expect their trials to be very unfair and severe sentences to be handed down to them based on confessions extracted under torture.
The sources further said that the Public Prosecution intends to order the execution of one of the detained young Shia men, identified as Ali al-Alawi, and long prison sentences for the rest.
Saudi Arabia has stepped up politically-motivated arrests, prosecution, and conviction of peaceful dissident writers and human rights campaigners, in particular in the Eastern Province.
The province has been the scene of peaceful demonstrations since February 2011. Protesters have been demanding reforms, freedom of expression, the release of political prisoners, and an end to economic and religious discrimination against the region.
Meanwhile, an independent human rights organization says Saudi officials bring imprisoned political dissidents and pro-democracy campaigners, who are deprived of family visits and meetings with attorneys, to secret trials in order to conceal grave violations committed against them.
Sanad human rights organization, which defends political and civil rights in Saudi Arabia and monitors human rights violations and exposes them to public opinion as well as international organizations, said many of the inmates stand secret trials, and receive arbitrary and unfair sentences based on confessions extracted under torture.
The organization highlighted that Saudi authorities grossly mistreat imprisoned dissidents in flagrant violation of international principles, which demand justice and transparency in the criminal procedure.
Ever since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has arrested dozens of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others perceived as political opponents, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnations of the crackdown.