La démocratie selon l’Arabie séoudite : Saudi reformists jailed (via @alaingresh)
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2011/1074/re3.htm
“Horrible, uncalled for and unfounded” were the words used by Bassim Alim, the lawyer of the 16 reformists sentenced on 22 November to stiff jail sentences in Riyadh that ranged from 10 to 30 years in prison, after being found guilty of forming a secret organisation, attempting to seize power, inciting discontent against the king, financing terrorism and money laundering.
Saud Al-Mokhtar, a medical doctor from Jeddah, received the stiffest sentence of 30 years in jail, together with a 30-year travel ban and fine of SR2 million (around $533,112) for allegedly being the head of the group.
“He was the most visible of them in the media, but there was never a group. It was a complete fabrication,” Alim said in a phone interview with Al-Ahram Weekly from Jeddah.