Since the theocratically inclined and dominionist Saudi Royal family, who govern Saudi Arabia, declared all atheists to be terrorists, they have begun handing down medieval grade punishment including death sentences and torture to alleged and actual apostates from Islam,  and to atheist(ic) and/or secularist conscientious critics of Islam and/or Islamic theocratic (and Wahhabist) rule. Since 2012, the following barbarisms against civilised thought and against atheist(ic) and alleged apostate minority dissidents and critics of Islam and/or Saudi Wahhabist theocratic Islamic rule have been committed:

• Moderate secular Muslim (Raif Badawi), was sentenced to receive dangerous and potentially fatal lashes for endorsing secularism and criticising Islamic theocracy online. Badawi's sentence has been postponed, but still hangs over him as a psychological abuse as he continues to be unethically imprisoned as a blatantly illicit and unethical denial of his human freedoms. In December Badawi was reported to have conducted a hunger strike and to be in ill health, and has been moved to a new facility.  
• Badawi's wife had her bank accounts frozen in 2009, and his sister has subsequently also been detained into custody.
• A poet that allegedly renounced Islam - Ashraf Fayadh, 35, was sentenced to death on 17 November 2015 because the Islamic religious court "confirmed Fayadh’s conviction for apostasy, including claims of promoting atheism and insulting Islam". He had his sentence subsequently reduced to torture in the form of 800 lashes (dangerous and possibly lethal anyway).  Fayadh may in fact not be atheist (details are unclear, but it seems he adamantly denies being an atheist), but he is nonetheless being persecuted on that basis. Fayadh's situation is currently dire.
• In February of 2016, the Saudi religious court "sentenced a man to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing his atheism on Twitter". (Source: The Independent/ Associated Press)
• These actions on the part of the Saudi Leadership and their religious court have occurred against the backdrop of a litany of domestic human rights abuses including attacks against foreign female service industry employees and on homosexuals.

Under these circumstances Saudi Arabia's Membership on the UN Human Rights Council is an obscenity, an offensive joke, and an affront to human decency and the persecuted people of Saudi Arabia. It seriously undermines the general credibility of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN. It is unlikely that a policy of UN engagement will influence for the better or change the attitude of the Saudi clerics and leaders involved in these violations of human rights, of domestic and international civil progress, and of human decency.

In order for Saudi Arabia and its ruling elite to be considered to have a credible human rights record conducive to their continued membership on the UN Human Rights Council, these activists and dissenters should have their sentences repealed and they must be released to be free to live in or leave Saudi Arabia with the proper protection of their persons and human rights fully in tact. These activists and social commentators do not deploy or endorse the same modus operandi, attitude, or approach as groups like The Muslim Brotherhood, and are not part of any organised movement. They are outspoken individuals who clearly pose no threat to civil order and the safety of other Saudi citizens on the basis of their non-violent free speech and criticism of Islam, and should not be classified as terrorists or criminals for said valid and non-violent free speech.

For Saudi Arabia to be reasonably considered a credible and acceptable candidate for UN Council membership, Decree 44 and associated Saudi religious and blasphemy laws that criminalise free speech under the false justification of preventing social instability must be repealed, or else revised to exclude criminalisation of atheists, expressions of unbelief in Islam, declarations of atheism, and criticism of Islam:

Backgroun data:
"To that end, King Abdullah issued Royal Decree 44, which criminalises "participating in hostilities outside the kingdom" with prison sentences of between three and 20 years, Human Rights Watch said.

Yet last month further regulations were issued by the Saudi interior ministry, identifying a broad list of groups which the government considers to be terrorist organisations - including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Article one of the new provisions defines terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based". (Source: The Independent)