Hawzah News Agency - According to the rights group on Monday, Abdulaziz al-Shubaily and Issa al-Hamid, both founding members of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), were detained over the

weekend.

“This is a dark time for freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia," said director of campaigns for Amnesty International in the Middle-East Samah Hadid.

"These two arrests have confirmed our fears that the new leadership under Mohammed bin Salman is determined to crush the kingdom’s human rights movement," she added.

Over the past few weeks, Saudi authorities have arrested some 30 clerics, intellectuals and academics, known for opposing the absolute monarchy, in what multiple rights advocates have described as a coordinated

crackdown on dissent.

"Saudi Arabia’s embattled human rights community has already suffered heavily at the hands of the authorities, and now with these latest arrests almost all the country’s most prominent human rights defenders are in

prison on bogus terrorism-related charges," added Hadid.

The arrests come amid reports that King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud plans to renounce power in favor of his son Crown Prince Mohammed.

Human Rights Watch said the detentions could be connected to efforts by the Saudi crown prince to consolidate power.