Mohammed al-Bajadi

RIYADH — A founding member of one of the few independent human rights groups in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, a regional rights group said on Wednesday.

Mohammed al-Bajadi was sentenced last Thursday by the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh, whose jurisdiction is related to “terrorism”, the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) said in a statement.

Bajadi is a founder of the Association for Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), said the GCHR, which has offices in Beirut and Copenhagen.

“The court ordered him to serve the first five years of the sentence and suspended the last five years,” it said, adding that he was tried “without prior notification or access to his lawyers.”

Bajadi, in his 30s, faced various accusations including acquiring banned books, organizing a protest by the families of prisoners and publishing material that “would prejudice public order,” the group said.

According to a report by London-based Amnesty International in October, Saudi authorities “have targeted the founding members of ACPRA one by one, in a relentless effort to dismantle the organization and silence its members.”

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia deplored criticism of its judiciary and said it does not accept “any form of interference in its internal affairs.”

The comments came in response to worldwide outrage over the sentence of 1,000 lashes handed to another activist, Raef Badawi, for “insulting Islam.”