The regime flouted an offer recently telling jailed political activists to sign a document pledging to abandon their activities to win their release, said rights activist Mohammad Fahad Muflih al-Qahtani.
"We have a number of cases where people are thrown in prison arbitrarily, torture, forced disappearances. ... Whatever rights abuses (you could think of), you could find in Saudi Arabia,” the activist said.
A court charged Qahtani in June 2012 on 11 charges including “breaking allegiance to” Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
"Of course, there will be a price to be paid, and we are more than willing to pay that price," the 46-year-old political activist said.
Meanwhile, Tamara al-Rifai, a spokeswoman for Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division, also condemned Riyadh for seeking to silence activists.
"This has been a systematic approach by the authorities in Saudi Arabia -- namely, the targeting and harassing of activists across the country," al-Rifai stated.
She added that many people in the kingdom "are being arbitrarily arrested and detained for exercising rights that are stipulated by all international human rights laws” and “the Arab Charter on Human Rights to which Saudi Arabia has adhered."
Saudis have stepped up their anti-regime protests since November 2011, when al Saud security forces opened fire on protestors in Qatif, killing five people and injuring dozens more.
According to activists more than 30,000 people have been imprisoned in the Kingdom, mainly on charges of political activity.
MOL/