Amnesty International published an annual report on the state of human rights in Saudi Arabia last week. The report covered a large scale of human rights violations within the country; everything from women’s repression, migrant worker mistreatment, execution of minors, sectarianism, arbitrary detainment and torture was discussed. The largest section of the report, however, was in regard to suppression of dissidents and the detainment of human rights defenders within the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is home to one of the world’s most notoriously oppressive regimes. A recent report by Freedom House listed Saudi Arabia as one of nine countries identified as the world’s worst human rights abusers. Several human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have continually criticized the Saudi government’s absolute failure to respect the most basic of human rights.

Despite the lack of freedom within Saudi Arabia, since the start of the Arab Spring there have been a notable number of groups and individuals which have publicly vocalized criticisms of the Saudi system. For some time, protests appeared limited to the eastern province city of Qatif. Due to Qatif’s Shiite population, however, the government was able to isolate these protests for some time by playing into the usual sectarian discourse. It did not take long for it to become clear, however, that it was not only the Shiites who were demanding more rights. Demonstrators in the Qassim province — an area traditionally known for adhering to a strict Sunni interpretation — also took to the streets in demonstration, thus discrediting the Saudi government’s discourse that protests were merely an isolated “Shiite” problem.

Despite demands for rights among several groups of different backgrounds, what has become very apparent is that social divisions within Saudi society have greatly hindered the human rights movement. Government propaganda quickly attempted to discredit any groups that were pushing for human rights: protesters in Qatif became heretics serving a “foreign nation” (implying Iran), demonstrators in Qassim were deemed terrorists who were a threat to the security of the nation, and liberal activists had been “brainwashed by infidels” and were attempting to “westernize” the country. A number of Saudis believe government propaganda. Many others defend one group’s pursuit of rights while condemning similar demands coming from other individuals, due to sectarian or ideological biases.