Saudi Arabia Steps Up Repression Post-G20 Presidency - Watchdog

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2021) Saudi Arabia has picked up and intensified crackdown on human rights defenders and dissidents in the past six months after a period of stabilization when the country held G20 presidency, a prominent human rights organization said on Tuesday.

"As soon as the G20 spotlight on Saudi Arabia faded, the authorities resumed their ruthless pursuit of people who dare to express their opinions freely or criticize the government. In one case, the Specialized Criminal Court [SCC, Saudi Arabia's counter-terrorist court] sentenced a humanitarian worker to an outrageous 20 years in prison for a simple tweet in which he expressed criticism of economic policies," Deputy Director for the middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, Lynn Maalouf, said.

During 2020, the number of cases of recorded repressions in Saudi Arabia fell by 85%, according to the organization. However, right after the country's hosting of the G20 summit last November, the number of executions increased to 40 people between January and July 2021, while only 27 were executed in the whole of 2020.

"In many cases executions took place following convictions in grossly unfair trials, marred by claims of torture during pre-trial detention leading to forced 'confessions' which the prosecution systematically failed to investigate," the watchdog said.

Even though in February 2021, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced that his country is going to adopt new laws and reform existing ones in order to protect human rights and increase the level of transparency, the SCC resumed trials, imprisoning people after "grossly unfair trials," the rights group said.

Freedom House's 2021 survey of political and civil rights has ranked Saudi Arabia among the "worst of the worst" in terms of the government's efforts in protecting basic rights and freedoms.