Saudi regime sentences 14 young activists to death

A Saudi court has given death sentences to over a dozen young Shia Muslim activists from the restive Qatif region, which has been the scene of peaceful protest rallies against the ruling Aal-e Saudi regime in recent years.

Lebanon’s al-Manar television channel reported that 14 activists were sentenced to death on Thursday by the Supreme Court in Riyadh for taking part in the anti-regime protests gripping the kingdom’s Eastern Province, where the Qatif region is located.

According to the report, the trial process preceding the verdicts took place at the criminal court dealing with terrorism-related cases, a tribunal viewed by legal experts as an Interior Ministry tool to suppress opposition activists.

This is while some of the defendants had said during the hearing sessions that they were forced into false confessions through physical and psychological torture.

In May, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, urged Saudi Arabia to stop using the law against people peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

The tough verdicts were issued amid the latest wave of unrest in the Shia Muslim town of Awamiyah in Qatif, which has repeatedly come under attack by regime forces over the past weeks.

SS