Saudi Arabia reportedly wants death penalty for female activist

Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia are seeking the death penalty for five activists in the country’s Eastern Province, according to Saudi activists and Human Rights Watch. Among those being targeted is Israa al-Ghomgham, who Saudi groups say would be the first female human rights activist to be put to death in the Saudi kingdom if the execution proceeds.

“Any execution is appalling, but seeking the death penalty for activists like Israa al-Ghomgham, who are not even accused of violent behavior, is monstrous,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Every day, the Saudi monarchy’s unrestrained despotism makes it harder for its public relations teams to spin the fairy tale of ‘reform’ to allies and international business.”

Human Rights Watch said Ghomgham is among five activists for whom Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecution office is seeking the death penalty. They are being tried in the country’s terrorism tribunal for what their supporters said was peaceful activism.

The Berlin-based European Saudi Organization for Human Rights highlighted Ghomgham’s case in a series of emails earlier this week, calling it a “precedent” and saying that the Saudi prosecution was seeking the activist’s beheading. Last week, the organization released a statement that suggested 51 people were awaiting execution in the country.

Ghomgham and the other four activists are facing trial in connection with demonstrations in the Shiite-populated parts of Eastern Province that began in 2011. The demonstrations were held to protest the discrimination that Shiite Muslim citizens face in the predominantly Sunni Muslim kingdom.

According to Human Rights Watch, Ghomgham and her husband were arrested on Dec. 6, 2015, and have been held in prison since. The charges that she and her fellow activists face include “participating in protests in the Qatif region,” “incitement to protest” and “chanting slogans hostile to the regime,” the rights group said.

Apart from the cases related to protests in the Shiite-majority areas of Eastern Province, the Saudi government faces growing condemnation for a crackdown on dissidents, including women’s rights advocates.

Among the women recently arrested was Nassima al-Sadah, a Shiite Muslim from the eastern city of Qatif, who had tried unsuccessfully to run for local elections and had sued to lift the kingdom’s ban on female drivers.