Jassim al-Safar, Freelance
Medium:Internet
Charge:Anti-state
Imprisoned:July 8 or 9, 2012

Al-Safar, a photographer from Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, was arrested in July 2012, according to news reports. The government accused al-Safar of belonging to an 11-person terrorist cell, but it was not clear how the other defendants might have been connected.

On June 18, 2014, the Saudi Specialized Criminal Court sentenced al-Safar to seven years' imprisonment and a seven-year travel ban on charges of sending materials over the Internet that would harm the country's reputation, corresponding with a foreign journalist, and organizing protests, among other charges, news reports said. It is not clear which work of al-Safar's led to his conviction.

Al-Safar took pictures for the website Awamphoto, which also identifies him as Jassim al-Awami. The website features pictures of cultural and religious events and rallies from Awamia, a Shia-majority town that has witnessed significant opposition protests against the Sunni Saudi government in recent years. The website has also published photos of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia religious leader who was sentenced to death in October 2014 for "sowing discord" and "undermining national unity," according to news reports. Al-Nimr had strongly supported anti-government protests in the Eastern Province since 2011. His arrest in 2012, in which he was shot by Saudi security forces, set off a new wave of protests.

The director of European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, Ali Adubisi, told CPJ that al-Safar was being held at the General Intelligence Prison in the city of Dammam.

CPJ did not include al-Safar in its 2012 or 2013 prison census because it was unaware of the case.

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