Saudi authorities have sentenced the brother of a well-known activist to death for allegedly criticizing corruption and human rights abuses in that monarchy on the internet, the Gulf Center for Human Rights (CGHR) denounced on Sunday.
The verdict against Mohamed bin Nasser al Ghamdi was handed down on July 10, after “an unknown account” published on the X platform (formerly Twitter) of “criticism of corruption” and “human rights violations” allegedly committed in Saudi Arabia says the non-governmental organization (NGO) in a statement quoted by EFE.
His brother, the well-known Saudi activist Saeed bin Nasser al Ghamdi, exiled to the United Kingdom since 2018, defended on August 24 on the social network X that the terrorism court that sentenced his relative did not accept the medical reports. which revealed that the convict suffers from “chronic neurological diseases”.
It was also not taken into account that the profile from which these publications emerged was “unknown” and had “only nine followers”.
Faced with this situation, Saeed stressed that the death sentence against his brother, which he described as “false”, aims to force the 62-year-old activist to return to Saudi Arabia, following “failed attempts” by Saudi intelligence services to repatriate . it.
The dissident fell victim to a vigorous campaign by the Saudi government against critics in 2017, which led to a wave of arrests of human rights defenders, and in 2018 sought political asylum in Britain.
Since then, Saeed bin Nasser al Ghamdi has headed the Sanad Rights Foundation, which documents human rights violations in the Saudi monarchy.
“The CGHR considers this a dangerous escalation after the shocking decades of prison sentences imposed on human rights defenders. […] Saudi Arabia has transformed into a repressive police state par excellence,” the NGO said in its statement, recalling that dozens of activists have recently been arrested for their activities on the internet.
The organization also said it “strongly believes that the death penalty has been widely used as a political tool by the Saudi authorities and is aimed at instilling fear in the country and terrorizing civilians, especially human rights activists.”
Source: DN
