London, January 11 (RHC)-- Amnesty International has voiced concern over the imprisonment and abuse of peaceful human rights defenders and activists by the Saudi regime under the pretext of war on terror.

Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, James Lynch, warned that the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia had worsened significantly over the past year.

"More and more human rights defenders are being sentenced to years in prison,” he noted.

The remarks by Lynch came on the first anniversary of the public flogging of imprisoned Saudi blogger and human rights activist, Raif Badawi, for exercising his right to free expression.

This comes a week after Saudi Arabia announced execution of prominent cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a long-time critic of the Al Saud regime. The cleric was one of 47 others, including a number of activists, who were executed on January 2nd.