...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...’s Shia-​populated Qatif region in Eastern Province will soon be executed, as the House of Saud is adamantly pressing ahead with a heavy-handed crackdown led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists. As crown prince, Moe has quietly jettisoned his country's policy of trying to impose its religion on the rest of the world...
against dissidents and anti-regime
The
They identified the defendants as Abdullah al-Howaiti, Abdullah al-Derazi, Ali al-Sabiti, Hasan Zaki al-Faraj, Jalal Al Labad, Mahdi al-Mohsen, Javad Qariris, and Yusef al-Manasif.
The
They went on to note that these six people are under trial in Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) since September 2019.
Manasif was
Saudi authorities allowed Manasif’s family to meet him only six months after his detention, and he was kept in solitary confinement during that time. He was tortured several times by Saudi officers, beaten unconscious, and then taken to hospital.
Among the charges leveled against him are participation in the funerals of political opponents, taking part in anti-regime demonstrations and chanting slogans against the Riyadh regime, attempts to incite sedition and disturb national security, encouragement of sit-ins, protests and gatherings with the intent to harm the country’s stability, affiliation to terrorist outfits and shooting at security forces.
Eastern Province has been the scene of peaceful demonstrations since February 2011. Protesters have been demanding reforms, freedom of expression, the release of political prisoners, and an end to economic and religious discrimination against the oil-rich region.
The protests have been met with a heavy-handed crackdown by the regime. Security forces have increased security measures across the province.
Since bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has arrested hundreds of
Moslem scholars have been executed and women’s rights campaigners have been put behind bars and tortured as freedom of expression, association, and belief continue to be denied by the kingdom’s authorities.
Over the past years, Riyadh has also redefined its anti-terrorism laws to target activism.