JEDDAH: The Appeals Court has upheld the verdict issued by a specialized penal court which sentenced Dr. Said bin Zair to four years in prison from the date of his arrest in 1428.

According to the ruling, the academician is also banned from traveling outside the Kingdom for a similar period.

The ruling also included confiscation of his computer and accessories and banned books related to the case with a strict commitment from him to keep away from suspicious areas.

A year ago, the specialized penal court leveled a series of charges against academic Bin Zair including possession of a computer device and accessories that contained banned items and were supportive of deviant thoughts. He also possessed banned books which had been concealed by using false titles. He also was guilty of publishing details of his case in a newspaper which was against the ruling of the court.

The academician rejected the primary ruling by raising the objection to the Appeals Court. The Appeals Court, however, upheld the ruling after deliberations with the specialized penal court.

According to the previous ruling, Bin Zair faced a number of charges including support for Al-Qaeda which had adopted an anti-state drive calling for armed protests against the leadership, hindering the capabilities of citizens and the state, damage to private and public property, bombing of residential compounds and government facilities, targeting of oil pipelines and refineries, and killing security personnel.

Bin Zair is a former professor in the media section at Imam Mohammed bin Saud University in Riyadh. He was arrested in 1995 and released after nine years but was arrested again in 2004 and released based on a royal decree. He was arrested in 2007 for the third time.