 He was ultimately sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment and a flogging of seventy-four lashes.Amnesty International reported that the group believed him to have been "ill-treated" during his interrogation and called for his release as a prisoner of conscience.Human Rights Watch similarly denounced the trial as a "mockery of the law", and "of a pattern of repression against reformist and independent figures that has gathered momentum since February's 2000 parliamentary elections".