A Saudi academic detained over remarks condoning suicide bombing attacks was sentenced to five years in jail for "sowing sedition and inciting disobedience to the ruler" his son told AFP.
Saeed bin Zair, 57, will appeal against the Riyadh court's verdict, said his the son, Abdullah. The court has never appointed a lawyer to bin Zair.
Earlier this year, the Saudi interior ministry said that bin Zair had been arrested following comments in which he voiced his support for suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed Muslims and non-Muslims.
Talking to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV, the former professor of mass communications "described the terrorist acts committed by the deviant group as being directed at non-Muslims, while condoning the killing of Muslims (in the process) by those who carry them out", a Saudi official said. (albawaba.com)
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