Saudi court increases human rights activist’s prison sentence by two years

Saudi Arabian human rights activist Issa al-Hamid

A Saudi Arabian court has extended the jail term of a human rights activist by two years, demonstrating “the authorities’ continuous ruthless and relentless crackdown” on political dissidents in the oil-rich and Wahhabi kingdom.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s so-called Specialized Criminal Court increased Issa al-Hamid’s prison sentence to eleven years from the original nine.

The court also issued a travel ban of equal duration on the human rights campaigner, and ordered him to pay a fine of 100,000 Saudi riyals (around 27,000 US Dollars).

Deputy Director of Campaigns at Amnesty International's Beirut regional office Samah Hadid has strongly denounced the ruling against Hamid - a founding member of Saudi Arabia’s Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) - as a reflection of the Riyadh regime’s “unabated persecution of human rights defenders.”

“Issa al-Hamid has shown tremendous courage in the face of blatantly unfair proceedings which appear designed to silence those who dare expose the Kingdom’s incessant human rights violations. His increased sentence is another nail in the coffin that the government is trying to build for Saudi Arabian civil society,” Hadid said.

The Amnesty International official added, “Issa al-Hamid and his two brothers, Dr. Abdullah al-Hamid and Dr. Abdulrahman al-Hamid, along with many others have paid a high price for their courage and devotion to defending human rights. These people should be protected and recognized, not sentenced and imprisoned. Saudi Arabia’s authorities must urgently quash the unjust conviction of Issa al-Hamid and all other human rights defenders who have been convicted in connection with their peaceful activism.” 

Amnesty says charges of “communicating false information to undermine the image of the state” were pressed against Hamid after he made statements and wrote online articles on the right to peaceful assembly, and called on King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to order an investigation into rights abuses in the country.

Riyadh has long been criticized by international bodies for its grim human rights record, draconian restrictions on freedom of speech, and harsh punishments handed out to the dissent.

On May 29, Saudi Arabia’s so-called Specialized Criminal Court sentenced human rights activist Abdulaziz al-Shubaily to eight years in prison on various charges, including communicating with foreign organizations and providing information to London-based Amnesty International for use in its reports on the kingdom’s dire human rights situation.

The 31-year-old blogger, Raif Badawi, has also been imprisoned by Saudi authorities since 2012. He has been sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes for criticizing the kingdom’s extremist Wahhabi ideology.

Back in early January, Riyadh regime announced the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr in defiance of international calls for his release. The move triggered massive condemnations around the world.