Amnesty issues damning report on Riyadh

LONDON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia has laws in place that make peaceful dissent against the monarchy a terrorist crime, Amnesty International said in a report published Thursday.

Amnesty, in a 71-page report, said there was a "new wave of repression" in the Saudi kingdom since the start of the Arab Spring this year.

"Peaceful protesters and supporters of political reform in the country have been targeted for arrest in an attempt to stamp out the kinds of calls for reform that have echoed across the region," Philip Luther, Amnesty International's interim Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement.

The rights group said around 5,000 people were referred to trial in April on charges they were tied to al-Qaida. Amnesty International said the subsequent trials were "grossly unfair," defendants were blindfolded during trail and didn't have access to a lawyer during the court session.

Amnesty International says the crackdown is related to a "secret draft anti-terror law" in Saudi Arabia that equates peaceful dissent to terrorism. The rights group accused the Sunni monarchy of detaining "thousands of people" without charge, adding torture of detainees is "rife" in the country.

Luther said that unless the draft law was altered since it was uncovered in July, Riyadh has legal provisions in place to continue systemic abuses.

"The Saudi Arabian government absolutely has a responsibility to protect the public from violent attacks but that has to be done within the boundaries of international law," he added.