Oil Sales and Weapons Purchases from US, let Saudi’s off the hook for draconian policies

In July 2011, the international human rights group Amnesty International published a draft version of an anti-terror law proposed by the government of Saudi Arabia. Marked “Secret and Urgent,” the law laid out defined offenses and proposed punishments for activities that Amnesty says would stifle peaceful dissent within the Kingdom and could lead to indefinite detention of those found in violation. The government of Saudi Arabia labeled Amnesty’s concerns as being “baseless, mere supposition and without foundation.” The Kingdom then proceeded to block access to Amnesty’s website.

The law, as written, described vague actions such as “endangering national unity” or “harming the reputation of the state” as being terrorist crimes and allowed for arrest and detention of citizens for an indefinite period when convicted by a special court. That court, the Specialized Criminal Court, whose existence was first made public in 2008 and is known to hold trials in secret without affording defendants the right to legal counsel, would have jurisdiction over all terrorist crimes. Among the crimes that could traditionally be thought of as acts of terrorism is questioning the integrity of the King or Crown Prince, which can be punishable by a minimum sentence of years in jail. The Saudi Interior Ministry would be given broad powers to act to protect state security without the need for judicial authority or supervision. No wonder the organization Human Rights Watch described the law as “a setback for human rights.” …more