Saudi Shia jailed 15 years for protest against govt.

Rasa - Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Shia Muslim to 15 years behind bars and 70 lashes for protesting against the government.

News ID: 619

Date: 01 February 2014 - 09:36

Rasa News Agency reports - According to Saudi newspapers, a court in the capital Riyadh convicted the man on Friday for demanding Saudi troops to leave Bahrain.

The man, whose name and age were not announced, was also banned from exiting Saudi Arabia for ten years after his release. He has the right to appeal the verdict.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded Bahrain to assist the Bahraini regime in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

Activists say there are over 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.

In October 2013, rights group Amnesty International censured Saudi authorities for not addressing the “dire human rights situation” in the kingdom.

The group also handed in a paper to the United Nations, which included information regarding a “new wave of repression against civil society, which has taken place over the last two years."

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