The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in the Arabian Peninsula (CDHRAP) said in a statement that the so-called Specialized Criminal Court in the capital Riyadh has sentenced several more Saudi nationals to death, simply for the sake of expressing their opinions on social media platforms, participating in peaceful pro-democracy rallies or denouncing social discrimination.
The Beirut-based human rights organization went on to highlight that the issuance of such arbitrary rulings on numerous occasions proves the hollow nature of the House of Saud’s claims about respect for human rights.
CDHRAP said that Saudi Arabia is the kingdom of terror, and called on the international community and human rights institutions around the world to stop the looming mass execution, which could take place under false accusations and not based on legal criteria.
It also identified some of those who have been handed down death sentences as Youssef al-Mansaf, Abdul Majid al-Nimr, Javad Qariris, Mohammad al-Faraj, Hassan Zaki al-Faraj and Ali Hassan al-Subaiti.
Since Mohammed bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has arrested hundreds of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others for their political activism, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnation of the crackdown.
Muslim scholars have been executed and women’s rights campaigners have been put behind bars and tortured as freedoms of expression, association, and belief continue to be denied by the kingdom's authorities.
Over the past years, Riyadh has also redefined its anti-terrorism laws to target activism.