Saudi authorities arrest son of opposition activist in Kingdom
3 Min Read
A Saudi opposition activist reveals that the Saudi authorities arrested his son at university in order to blackmail him.
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Abdul Hakim bin Abdul Aziz and his son Yasser
Saudi opposition activist, Abdul Hakim bin Abdul Aziz, revealed that the Saudi authorities had arrested his son, Yasser, from his university, as part of the Kingdom's aggressive crackdown against activists that criticize the performance of the ruling regime on social media.
"I was informed of the arrest of my 20-year-old son, Yasser, from his university," bin Abdul Aziz tweeted from France on Tuesday.
The Saudi opposition activist pointed out that the only justification for the Saudi authorities to arrest his son is to blackmail him, stressing that this step will only increase his determination to perform the duty he is doing.
🛑 بلغني اعتقال ابني ياسر البالغ من العمر ٢٠ سنة وذلك باقتياده من مقعده في الجامعة
— عبدالحكيم بن عبدالعزيز الدخيّل AbdulhakimAldukheil (@Abdulhakim_01) November 7, 2022
ولا اجد مبررا لاعتقاله إلا ابتزاز والده
وهنا أؤكد أن هذا لن يزيدني إلا إصرارا على أداء الواجب الذي تصديت له
ولئن كان الابن عزيزا علي فإن كل معتقلي الرأي أحبائنا وأعزائنا بقدر ما احتسبوا وصبروا. pic.twitter.com/MhCatj1wfi
On Monday, bin Abdul Aziz considered that the arrest of his son exposes "the oppression and tyranny of the ruling regime in Saudi Arabia and is a desperate attempt to force me to remain silent about the violations that the country is witnessing."
It is noteworthy that bin Abdul Aziz is one of the founders of the "Zawina" organization, which is concerned with supporting the families of prisoners of conscience and exposing human rights violations against detainees and their families.
53 people, including minors, facing death penalty in KSA
At the beginning of this month, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights revealed that the Saudi authorities had sentenced 15 prisoners of conscience to death, bringing the number of people at risk of death to 53, including at least eight minors.
In the same context, the Saudi Court of Appeal extended in October the sentence of Tunisian national Mahdia Al-Marzouki, from two years and eight months to 15 years, on charges of interacting with a tweet.
Similarly, the Saudi authorities sentenced an American citizen to 16 years in prison for criticizing the Saudi regime in a tweet.
Muslim academics have been executed, and women's rights activists have been imprisoned and tortured. All the while, the #Saudi authorities continue to deny freedom of expression. pic.twitter.com/e4NiQ6GshR
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 24, 2022
In late August, a specialized criminal court allegedly found Saudi Arabian woman, Nourah bint Saeed Al-Qahtani, guilty of "using the internet to tear [Saudi Arabia's] social fabric" and sentenced her to 45 years in prison as a result, according to documents obtained and examined by Democracy for the Arab World Now.
The court also sentenced Saudi university student Salma Al-Shehab to 34 years in prison for following and retweeting dissidents and activists on her personal Twitter account.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
