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The group is launching a six month worldwide campaign against "arbitrary arrest, torture and executions" in the kingdom coinciding with a report published on Tuesday entitled Saudi Arabia: A Secret State of Suffering.
 An alleged Saudi execution captured on video
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The kingdom - which is the world's biggest oil producer - spent more than $1m in 1999 on public relations firms to ensure secrecy about abuses of human rights.
AI says the state structure in Saudi Arabia is permeated by secrecy and fear. Victims and witnesses are too scared to talk and anyone who dares voice dissent is harshly punished.
Political and religious opponents of the government, migrant workers, women and other powerless individuals emerge as consistent victims of discrimination  |
Amnesty International
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"Once trapped in this web, there is only one guaranteed outcome - their basic human rights will be violated."
The most common violations occur against migrant workers, religious minorities and women, the group says.
Saudi Arabia has in the past rejected previous Amnesty reports. There has been no response to Tuesday's report so far.
Washington march
Amnesty supporters are planning to march between the Saudi Embassy in Washington, the US State Department and public relations firms employed by the Saudi Government and the US State Department.
A week ago the group lobbied the United Nations human rights commission to put aside political and economic considerations and scrutinise the kingdom's human rights record.
 Close friends: President Clinton has visited Riyadh
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Saudi Arabia is said to have one of the highest rates of execution in the world, averaging two a week, but AI says it provides no information on how victims had been tried.
According to reports the group has compiled over the last two decades, some defendants were tortured into signing a confession, then beheaded.
"Incommunicado detention, a criminal justice system which from the outset treats suspects as guilty, and the lack of independent mechanisms for reporting torture and investigations into allegations, all foster a climate of impunity," it says.
Abused minorities
AI says Christians, Sikhs and other minorities are subject to discrimination and are targeted by security forces.
 Crown Prince Abdullah governs a state wich tolerates no dissent
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Amnesty accuses Saudi Arabia of failing to meet international human rights obligations despite having signed several treaties.
Political groups and trade unions are banned in the kingdom and the authorities do not tolerate any form of public dissent.
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