Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia:
"The game of chess is proscribed. It is included in the category of gambling (maysir) [then he quotes the Qur’anic verses about the prohibition of maysir]. It is a waste of time. It squanders money. It causes enmity and hatred between people. By playing it, a rich will end poor and a poor will end up rich. It causes enmity and hatred between people. And people playing it are spending time where it is not supposed to be spent"
The Mufti often issues decrees about insignificant matters
and ignores cases of government abuses and human rights violations. In fact,
the Mufti often issues decrees justifying the Saudi rulers’ abuses and never speaks on behalf of the victims of government's abuses and restrictions.
In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi,
Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight
years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice.
In March 2015, Yemen’s Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour
Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led
coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has
since been accused of committing war crimes in the country.
Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in
2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and
intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would
face arrest.
Members of the Kingdom’s Shia minority, most of whom live in
the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits
their access to government services and employment. Activists have received
death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in
protests in 2011 and 2012.
All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued
by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution
and imprisonment on charges such as “inciting people against the authorities”.
In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities
had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in
detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where
they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to
Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported
that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift
detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused
by guards.
The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to
independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they
have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against
activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty.
Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in
prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabia’s clerics. He has
already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health.
Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in
an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he
was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his
‘confession’. At Dawood’s trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion
while refusing him a lawyer.
Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or
17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes
beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against
the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a
prominent government dissident.
ISIL and other terrorist organizations around the world follow the same religious sect, Wahhabism, which is the official religious authority in the kingdom.
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