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| Arabia | |
| Verdicts on 16 Saoodi activists likely next week | |
| 2011-06-27 | |
| RIYADH: Some of 16 Saudi reform activists being tried on security and sedition charges may receive their verdicts next week after spending more than four years in detention, their lawyer said on Saturday. Most of the lawyers, professors and activists in the group were detained in 2007 after they met in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah to discuss reform. "Some of the verdicts could come out on Tuesday or Wednesday," lawyer Basin Alim told Reuters. "There are basically two scenarios. The first is that they would be let out on the basis that they had already served enough time and the second is that they will get a few more years which will give time for the king to pardon them in due course," Alim said.
"(The judge) denied me entry into the court to defend my clients, I am currently still their legal representative and preparing all documentation out of court for them to personally hand in to the judge," said Alim. "I communicate with my clients ... through their family visits. The families convey their messages to me and I reply. It's been a very difficult situation," he said, adding that no other lawyer had agreed to defend the activists. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |