Saudi jails Salman Ouda’s brother for 5 years

Dr Khaled Al-Ouda, brother of prominent Saudi preacher Dr Salman Al-Ouda, was sentenced by a Saudi court to five years in prison over claims of “inciting sedition and destabilising security”, Anadolu reported yesterday.

The news agency reported Dr Abdullah Al-Ouda, son of Dr Salman Al-Ouda, wrote on Twitter: “The [Saudi] authorities have sentenced my uncle Khaled to five years in prison and imposed travel ban on him over charges of seeking to employ the arrest of his brother to incite sedition and destabilise security.”

According to Abdullah, the verdict came three and a half years after his uncle was arrested over tweets he posted in support of his brother.

Meanwhile, the Prisoners of Conscience Twitter account, which is concerned with the rights of detainees in the kingdom, wrote: “The so-called Saudi Specialized Criminal Court issues a 5-year prison verdict against Dr. Khaled Al-Odah, with a fake charge of “”seeking to employ the arrest of his brother Sheikh Salman al-Odah in order to stir up discord and destabilize security.””

It added: “The detention of Dr. Khaled Al-Odah was illegal; his trial sessions were secret and illegal; the prison verdict against him is illegal.”

🔴Since his first secret trial session in October 2018, Dr. Khaled Al-Odah used to be transferred to Riyadh, handcuffed and feet bound.
Before his first session, he was deprived of diabetes and blood pressure medication and left until he fainted in the courtroom.#خالد_العودة pic.twitter.com/9jEF4uSA2V

— Prisoners of Conscience (@m3takl_en) November 17, 2020

Khaled was sent to court for the first time in October 2018, two months after the detention of his brother Salman.

Salman Al-Ouda was detained at his home in Riyadh on 9 September 2017 and accused of 37 charges, including incitement to change the Saudi regime, joining banned international unions and associations and stirring up discord.

His son, Abdullah, revealed late last year that his father was being tortured in detention.

READ: Saudi activists give evidence of human rights violations to British MPs