RIYADH:On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah issued a royal decree that punishes citizens who fight in conflicts outside the kingdom, with prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years in jail.
The spoke person said that the Saudi
Royal Court also says that any Saudi citizen who joins extremist
terrorist groups or supports them materially or through incitement would
face an even harsher punishment ranging from five to 30 years in jail.
The decree appeared aimed at stemming the flow of Saudi fighters going
to Syria. The region’s civil war is believed to have drawn hundreds of
young Saudis, worrying some in the kingdom that fighters could return
radicalized and turn their weapons on the monarchy. Many young Saudi men
appear to have been encouraged to join the fight in Syria by
influential Saudi clerics who follow the kingdom’s ultraconservative
religious Wahhabi doctrine and view the war as a struggle between
Syria’s Sunni majority and President Bashar Assad’s Alawite,
Shiite-backed minority. The uprising against Assad has transformed into a
regional proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which support
opposing sides. Foreign fighters and extremists have infiltrated the
opposition; triggering infighting that has undermined the rebellion. The
decree comes after a sweeping new counterterrorism law came into effect
in the kingdom Sunday that activists say targets virtually any
criticism of the government. “This disturbing new law confirms our worst
fears – that the Saudi Arabian authorities are seeking legal cover to
entrench their ability to crack down on peaceful dissent and silence
human rights defenders,” said Said Boumedouha, Middle East Deputy
Director at Amnesty International.
No comments:
Post a Comment