Saudi authorities have stepped up their crackdown on online dissidents, Human Rights Watch said, alleging that prosecutors and judges use vague law to charge citizens for peaceful tweets and social media comments. The New York-based rights organisation on Sunday called on the government to end the crackdown and live up to its obligations to respect free speech. Three prominent lawyers were convicted of criticising the Justice Ministry last month and sentenced to prison terms of between five and eight years. Police also detained a liberal women’s rights activist in connection with tweets that allegedly criticised religious officials and promoted the right of Saudi women to drive. These prosecutions show just how sensitive the Saudi authorities have become to the ability of ordinary citizens to voice opinions online that the government considers controversial or taboo, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). Instead of pursuing their peaceful online critics, Saudi officials would be better employed in carrying out much-needed reforms. The organisation said that Saudi authorities are using vague provisions of a 2007 anti-cybercrime law to charge and try Saudi citizens. Article 6 criminalises producing something that harms public order, religious values, public morals, the sanctity of private life, or authoring, sending, or storing it via an information network, and imposes penalties of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to three million Saudi Riyals (US$800,000). Read ore at; aljazeera/news/middleeast/2014/11/saudi-arabia-intensifies-twitter-crackdown-2014112363955848622.html
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 09:11:01 +0000
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