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Saud al-Hashimi (born c. 1963) is a Saudi Arabian human rights activist. In 2011, he was tried and found guilty by the Specialized Criminal Court on charges including "disobeying Saudi Arabia’s king, forming an organization opposing the state, questioning the independence of the judiciary, money laundering and 'supporting terrorism'", and in November was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment and a fine of 2 million riyals (US$534,000). Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience, jailed for "peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association", and several other international human rights groups campaigned for his release.

Arrest and trial
Al-Hashimi was arrested in Jeddah in February 2007 along with eight other critics of the Saudi Arabian government (Musa al-Qirni, Suliaman al-Rashudi, Abdul Rahman Khan, Essam Basrawi, Saif al-Din al-Sharif, Fahd al-Qurshi, Abdul Rahman al-Shumayri) and who planned to form a political party or human rights organization. The men were detained without charge until August 2010. During his pre-trial detention, al-Hashimi went on hunger strike for a week, which reportedly caused his guards to strip him down to his underwear and leave him in a cold cell for several hours.

The nine were brought to trial in the Specialized Criminal Court in 2011. Their lawyers were initially denied information on the charges against the men, and the court's sessions were closed to media and observers, leading Amnesty International to criticize the proceedings as "grossly unfair". Al-Hashimi found guilty by the Specialized Criminal Court on charges including "disobeying Saudi Arabia’s king, forming an organization opposing the state, questioning the independence of the judiciary, money laundering and 'supporting terrorism'", and in November was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment and a fine of 2 million riyals (US$534,000).

Imprisonment
During al-Hashimi's imprisonment, several international human rights groups campaigned on his behalf. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that his detention was arbitrary and illegal. Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience and stated that al-Hashimi had been jailed for "peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association". The International Federation for Human Rights and World Organisation Against Torture issued a joint statement calling for "urgent intervention" into the case, including the immediate and unconditional release of al-Hashimi. Human Rights Watch criticized the Saudi Arabian government for keeping al-Hashimi as a "political prisoner", stating that "recycling political prisoners won't appease demands for democratic change".