Khaled Al-Omair – The Saudi judiciary continues to issue unfair judgments

Together for Justice condemns in the strongest terms the sentencing of the prominent Saudi activist, Khaled Al-Omair, to 7 years in prison, in an unfair trial that lacked integrity and impartiality.

On Sunday, April 25, the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh (Terrorism Court) issued a 7-year prison sentence against Al-Omair, who has been detained since July 01, 2018, for his peaceful and logical human rights and political activities.

The Saudi authorities accused Al-Omair of using the hashtag #The_people_want_a_new_constitution, which the authorities considered a campaign to incite the people against the leadership and the ruling authority.

Other sources confirmed that the arrest of Al-Omair came after “he submitted a complaint to the authorities against those who tortured him during his previous imprisonment for 10 years following his call to demonstrate in solidarity with the Gaza Strip in 2008”. He was arrested again in July 2018, 6 months after his first release.

Al-Omair suffered a number of legal and human rights violations since his arrest. He revealed all of them in a letter he sent to his family from prison, where he confirmed that he appeared before the court with his feet cuffed, and he refused to respond to the allegations of the Public Prosecution due to being denied of his basic rights as well as the bias of the court. He appealed in his letter to save the political detainees in Saudi prisons due to the cruel and degrading treatment they receive.
Moreover, Al-Omair was denied from attending his father’s funeral, who died last March 2019. Al-Omair submitted repeated requests to visit his father when his health deteriorated seriously, however the Saudi authorities refused his requests until his father passed away. He was also denied visiting his sick mother in the hospital, despite her deteriorating health condition.

Khaled Al-Omair is not the first to face these violations at the hands of the Saudi regime, which has always harassed its opponents, and he will not be the last as long as the international community continues to cooperate with this regime and give priority to commercial, economic and strategic interests over the interests of human rights and the lives of citizens.

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