JEDDAH: The Special Criminal Court in Riyadh on Tuesday jailed a citizen for over 13 years for sedition including calling for protests, insulting scholars and judges and labeling the Kingdom a repressive police state.

It its preliminary verdict, the court ruled that the man had attempted to create chaos and disrupt the country’s peace with his actions. These included writing and publishing calls for street protests in violation of the country’s laws against such behavior.

In addition, he had issued libelous statements about the country’s judges and scholars, including that they were “tools” carrying out the state’s laws for financial reward. He had also accused them of lacking integrity and violating the rights of people.

The court found him guilty of issuing statements accusing the Saudi government of running a police state and using the judiciary to legalize injustice and oppression.