Saudi courts issue new arbitrary rulings against prisoners of conscience
The Specialized Criminal Court issued new arbitrary rulings against prisoners of conscience to circumvent the law and detain activists as long as possible.
Sanad Organization for Human Rights stated that the Specialized Criminal Court issued a 16-year sentence against Saad Ibrahim Al-Madhi, who holds American citizenship, against the background of tweets in which he expressed his opinion.
In this context, the Court of Appeal issued a 15-year sentence against the Tunisian doctor living in the Kingdom, Dr Mahdiya Marzouki, on the background of her interaction with a tweet on her Twitter account.
The Public Prosecution had charged Al-Marzouki with several charges, most notably insulting the ruling system and transgressing the state system through social media.
As part of the unfair policy of the Saudi judiciary against prisoners of conscience, the Court of Appeal resorted to overturning the acquittal of the Yemeni journalist Marwan Al-Muraisy, detained in the Kingdom, and issuing a 5-year prison sentence against him.
In a related context, media sources confirmed that the Specialized Criminal Court had retried the detained human rights defender, Muhammad Al-Rabiah, after his 6-year sentence, with two years suspended.
It is noteworthy that the Specialized Criminal Court issued a ruling in January 2021 acquitting journalist Marwan Al-Muraisy. Still, in April 2022, the Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal and sentenced him to 5 years in prison.
Sanad Organization condemned the insistence of the Saudi judiciary in circumventing the law and re-issuing arbitrary sentences against innocent prisoners of conscience, with repressive motives that violate justice and the law.
The Saudi Judicial Support Organization called for an end to the violation of justice and the law and to stop issuing arbitrary charges against innocent prisoners of conscience out of respect for human rights and the law.
And recently, the detainee Issa al-Nukhaifi has continued his hunger strike, which he started on October 15, in protest against the deliberate abuse of prisoners of conscience, and the delay in resolving his case and releasing him.
Also, 2130 days had passed since Al-Nukhaifi’s arrest, when he was arrested on December 18, 2016, and was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department in Makkah for investigation.
According to reports, he was tortured in his detention and held in solitary confinement for a long time, and he was not allowed to hire a lawyer. He also submitted many requests to transfer him from Makkah Al-Mukarramah prison to Jazan prison so that his elderly mother (82 years) could visit him as she does not reside in Jizan and cannot travel to Makkah, except The regime ignored all his claims.
Human rights circles demanded the relevant government agencies in Saudi Arabia end the deliberate abuse of prisoners of conscience and the delay in releasing innocents without guilt or crime.
