Amnesty defines MBS era as darkest of Al Saud rulers
Amnesty International has called empowerment of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman as the onset of the darkest era for Al Saud ruling in terms of human rights.
Share It :
Amnesty International has reportedly noted that the era of Mohammad Bin Salman has opened the darkest time in regards to human rights issues in the Arab kingdom.
The international organization announced that since empowerment of Mohammad Bin Salman in 2015 the country has seen massive crackdown on freedom of expression targeting human rights advocates and numerous people who have voiced their opposition in any form.
It added," All human rights or women rights advocates, independent journalists, authors and activists have been detained, unfairly sentenced or conditionally freed."
Among the sentences issued for these people are banning their travels or limiting their peaceful activities. Horrendous murder of dissent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the country's consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 is only one of the crimes committed by Al Saud against its critics.
Digital monitoring and targeting activists outside Saudi Arabia and via cyber space, controlled by Saudi government, has created an ambiance of fear and crackdown.
Amnesty International has announced in its previous report that illegal sentences and travel ban issued by Saudi authorities is another instance of crackdown by the government.
The report also says that the travel ban is a tactic by Saudi authorities to silence the critics both inside and outside the country, a decision which violates international human rights.
The organization has launched an international campaign titled "Lift-Travel-Ban" reasoning that Saudi authorities are using the arbitrary sentences as means to punish and control the activists, authors, journalists and their families in the Arab country and overseas.
The campaign has referred to the files of 30 human rights advocates who have received jail terms and whose travel ban will be implemented following the end of their prison terms.
It has also enumerated 39 activists whose family members have been banned from travel without official orders.
Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research in Amnesty International' Middle East and North Africa Regional Office said," The arbitrary use of travel ban by Saudi officials targeting activists and human rights advocates reveals the truth that the opposite voices are still silenced while Saudi authorities are claiming to pursue gradual reform in the Arab kingdom.
Maalouf said," Activists who dare to express criticism are not particularly favored by the authorities; therefore, they make the victims of illegal decisions and travel bans" calling on Saudi officials to lift all arbitrary travel bans and respect freedom of expression for all.
Activists living outside Saudi Arabia say that the emotional impacts of the decision have been the worst for them since they are not able to visit their families or their homeland as they are likely to be detained if they enter Saudi Arabia.
