On August 6, 2011, Saudi Arabian officials announced amendments to their existing draft anti-terrorism law, which had been criticized by human rights groups. Amnesty International (AI) had released the draft law in a press release, claiming that the law’s definition of “terrorist crimes” was overly broad and would allow for prosecution of a broad range of conduct. AI had previously reported that Saudi Arabian officials were allegedly using anti-terrorism measures as a means to detain, torture and kill thousands of people. In February 2009, the US Department of State released the 2008 Report on Human Rights Practices for Saudi Arabia, which identified several human rights issues, including denial of public trials and detention of political prisoners.


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