DUBAI,
United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia put into effect a sweeping new
counterterrorism law Sunday that human rights activists say allows the
kingdom to prosecute as a terrorist anyone who demands reform, exposes
corruption or otherwise engages in dissent.
The
law states that any act that "undermines" the state or society,
including calls for regime change in Saudi Arabia, can be tried as an
act of terrorism. It also grants security services broad powers to raid
homes and track phone calls and Internet activity.
Human
rights activists were alarmed by the law and said it is clearly aimed
at keeping the kingdom's ruling Al Saud family firmly in control amid
the demands for democratic reform that have grown louder since the Arab
Spring protests that shook the region in 2011 and toppled longtime
autocrats.
Saudi
activist Abdulaziz al-Shubaily described the law as a "catastrophe."
And Human Rights Watch researcher Adam Coogle warned: "The new law is
draconian in spirit and letter, and there is every reason to fear that
the authorities will easily and eagerly use it against peaceful
dissidents."
The
measure was approved by the Cabinet on Dec. 16 and ratified by King
Abdullah. It was published in its entirety for the first time on Friday
in the government's official gazette Um Al-Qura.
In
defense of the law, the Saudi minister of culture and information,
Abdel Aziz Khoja, was quoted in December as saying that the legislation
strikes a balance between prevention of crimes and protection of human
rights according to Islamic law.
Saudi
Arabia is one of the world's last absolute monarchies. All decisions
are centered in the hands of 89-year-old King Abdullah. There is no
parliament. There is little written law, and judges — implementing the
country's strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam — have broad leeway to
impose verdicts and sentences.
An
attempt to pass a similar counterterrorism law in 2011 was shelved
after rights groups in Saudi Arabia and abroad leaked a copy online.
Since
then, dozens of activists have been detained, a prominent rights
organization was shut down, and authorities more aggressively monitor
social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, where jokes about the
aging monarchy are rife and anger over corruption, poverty and
unemployment is palpable.
The
new law defines terrorism as any criminal act that "destabilizes the
society's security or the state's stability or exposes its national
unity to harm." It also states that terrorist acts include disabling the
ruling system or "offending the nation's reputation or its position."
Activists
said that simply exposing corruption could be seen as a violation of
the law. Some also warned that Saudi women who get behind the wheel of a
car in violation of the ban on female drivers could be tried under the
new anti-terror law.
The
law also gives the interior minister the power to end sentences and
drop charges. It says only the interior minister can order the release
of a person on trial. Judges would have no say.
Other
worrying aspects, activists said, include an article that says police
can raid homes and offices on suspicion of anti-government activity
without prior approval from a judge or even a superior.
Suspects can
also be held incommunicado for 90 days, and lawyers are not required to
be present during the initial interrogation.
Lori
Plotkin Boghardt of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy said
the new law will not likely have a huge impact on the way in which the
Saudis fight militants. She said the law provides technical cover for
many of the measures the authorities were employing.
Coogle
of Human Rights Watch said the law "enshrines some of the unlawful
practices that Saudi authorities were already committing," such as
detention of suspects for many years without trial. He said it also does
not specify the punishment for crimes committed under the new law.
However,
he said the measure does not include some of the most controversial
language of the 2011 draft, which went further by criminalizing insults
against Islam and protests as acts of terrorism.
Al-Shubaily
is among 12 activists in the country who founded the Saudi Association
for Civil and Political Rights, known in Arabic by its acronym HASEM.
The group was shut down, eight of its founding members were imprisoned,
and he is facing trial.
"If
I call for the release of someone from jail for being held longer than
their sentence, I can be tried for 'asking the state to take action,'"
al-Shubaily said. "When I call for a constitutional monarchy, I can now
be charged with terrorism."
"They characterize you as a terrorist because you ask the kingdom to do something it does not want to do" he added.
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