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Saudi Arabia seeks its first death penalty against a female human rights activist Saudi Arabia seeks its first death penalty against a female human rights activist
(about 9 hours later)
Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against five human rights activists currently on trial in a secretive terrorism court, according to Human Rights Watch. Saudi Arabian prosecutors are seeking the death sentence for five human rights activists, including a woman who is thought to be the first female campaigner facing execution, rights groups said.
Among the detainees is Israa al-Ghomgham, whom Saudi activists said was the first woman to possibly face the death penalty for human rights-related work in Saudi Arabia. Charges against her include incitement to protest and providing moral support to rioters. Israa al-Ghomgham, a Shia activist arrested with her husband in 2015, will be tried in the country’s terrorism tribunal even though charges she faces are only related to peaceful activism, Human Rights Watch said.
“Any execution is appalling, but seeking the death penalty for activists like Israa al-Ghomgham, who are not even accused of violent behavior, is monstrous,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement on Wednesday. Saudi Shia citizens face systematic discrimination in the majority-Sunni nation, including obstacles to seeking work and education, and restrictions on religious practice. Al-Ghomgahm had joined and documented mass protests for Shia rights that began in 2011 as the “Arab Spring” swept across the region.
ALQST, a London-based Saudi rights group, reported the decision involving Ghomgham’s case earlier this week. “Any execution is appalling, but seeking the death penalty for activists like Israa al-Ghomgham, who are not even accused of violent behavior, is monstrous,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
A government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Al-Ghomgham has been held in jail, without access to legal support, since she was detained in a night raid on her home in December 2015. The decision to seek the death penalty for her, her husband Moussa al-Hashem and four others was first highlighted by ALQST, a London-based Saudi rights group.
Activists said the trial was ongoing, and denied social media reports that the detainees had already been executed. They face charges including “participating in protests”, “chanting slogans hostile to the regime,” “attempting to inflame public opinion,” and “filming protests and publishing on social media”, Human Rights Watch said.
Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy where public protests and political parties are banned, has enacted some high-profile social and economic reforms in recent years under powerful young crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The trial is set to start on October 28th, and will be the latest shadow on crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to promote himself as a modernising reformer.
These changes have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, with dozens of clerics, intellectuals and activists arrested in the past year, including women who had campaigned for the right to drive in the deeply conservative Muslim country. The kingdom’s youngest ruler in the modern era, the 32 year-old power behind the throne has pledged to rein in religious extremists and diversify a moribund, oil-dependent economy.
A roundup of senior royals, ministers and businessmen last November on charges of corruption sent shockwaves through the kingdom, stunning allies and foreign investors. Most of those detainees were released after reaching undisclosed financial settlements with the government. He has rolled back some restrictions on women including a long-standing ban on women drivers, launched a raft of economic reforms, and imprisoned some of his most powerful royal relatives in an anti-corruption drive.
Ghomgham is a prominent Shi’ite Muslim activist who documented mass demonstrations in the Eastern Province starting in 2011. She was arrested from her home in December 2015 along with her husband. But social and economic transformation have gone hand-in-hand with a tightening of political controls, as the crown prince made clear he wants the new Saudi Arabia to be shaped only by him.
Most of the country’s Shi’ite minority lives in the oil-producing Eastern Province and some have complained that their religious ceremonies are banned or interfered with by Sunni authorities, and that they lack opportunities for work and education. The government has denied the charges. Ahead of lifting the ban on women drivers, he arrested over a dozen of the activists who had campaigned for the very change that he was bringing in. Many are still in jail, facing serious charges, and branded “traitors” by local media.
Saudi Arabia has previously executed Shi’ite activists on what rights groups called politically-motivated charges. It views protests among Shi’ites in the context of tensions with Shi’ite power and regional rival Iran, which it has accused of fomenting the unrest. The campaign to muzzle critics has not just been domestic. Saudi Arabia dramatically cut all ties with Canada after the country’s foreign minister called on Twitter for the release of two jailed activists.
The authorities have carried out security operations against suspected Shi’ite militants in the Eastern Province, which has seen unrest and occasional armed attacks for years.  The Canadian ambassador was expelled, Saudi scholarship students told to leave Canada and new trade and investment suspended.
Prosecutors seeking the death penatly for al-Ghomgham could set a dangerous precedent for other women activists currently behind bars, Human Rights Watch warned.
The kingdom has previously executed Shia activists, and the Specialised Criminal Court set up in 2008 where the case will be held, is “notorious for its violations of fair trial standards”, Human Rights Watch said.
A government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
Human rightsHuman rights
Middle East and North AfricaMiddle East and North Africa
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