Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Saudi Arabia: Dr Zuhair Kutbi, a Writer, Jailed By Counter-Terrorism Court (This is the First Update for Urgent Action 188/15) - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International
 
Saudi Arabian writer Dr Zuhair Kutbi has been sentenced to four years in prison on charges related to his peaceful activism. He is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment and is in need of medical attention. He is a prisoner of conscience.

Dr Zuhair Kutbi was sentenced on 21 December to four years in prison by the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh, followed by a five-year ban on overseas travel, a fine of 100,000 Saudi Arabian riyals (about US$26,600) and a 15-year ban on writing and giving interviews to the media. The court also ordered him to erase his social media accounts. It suspended two years of his four-year sentence because of his health, but indicated it would reimpose them if he “offended” again.

The SCC, a notoriously abusive counter-terrorism court, found Dr Zuhair Kutbi guilty of violating Saudi Arabia’s counter-terror law, the Law for Crimes of Terrorism and Its Financing, and Article 6 of the Anti-Cyber Crime Law by “inciting public opinion”, “sowing discord” and “reducing people’s respect of the rule of law”.

It is believed that he was arrested on 15 July because of comments he made on 25 June on the TV show Fi al-Samim (To the Point), on the Rotana Khalijia satellite channel, in which he criticized political repression in Saudi Arabia and argued for reforms such as transforming the country’s political system into a constitutional monarchy.

Since his arrest, he has been held in three different detention centers, where he has been interrogated and is thought to have been ill-treated. He is currently detained in the Mecca General Prison. He is in need of medical attention as he is recovering from an operation to remove a tumor, and has diabetes and high blood pressure.