Saudi activists sentenced

Human rights activists Mohammed Al-Otaibi and Abdullah Al-Attawi have been sentenced to 14 and seven years in prison respectively by the Specialised Criminal Court. The sentences were quickly associated by advocacy groups with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s crackdown on critics. Otaibi and Attawi were brought to trial in October 2016, on charges that included “participating in setting up an organisation and announcing it before getting an authorisation” and “dividing national unity”. Otaibi was detained in Saudi Arabia last May after he was deported from Qatar, en-route to Norway where he had been granted refugee status.