US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross praised the lack of protests during Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, despite the country being well known for handing out brutal punishments to dissenting voices.

Over a dozen prominent activists convicted on charges arising from their peaceful activities were serving long prison sentences in 2016, according to Human Rights Watch. Others have been sentenced to death.

But seemingly unaware of this, Mr Ross told US broadcaster CNBC: “There was not a single hint of a protester anywhere there during the whole time we were there. Not one guy with a bad placard."

Asked whether this could be because protests were stifled in the country, Mr Ross replied: “In theory, that could be true. But, boy, there was certainly no sign of it, there wasn’t a single effort of any incursion. There wasn’t anything. The mood was a genuinely good mood.”

He added that there was “no question” that the Saudis were “liberalising their society”.

Mr Ross, a 79-year-old Wall Street multimillionaire, who served as an economic policy adviser to Mr Trump's presidential campaign, is new to public office.

He has previously courted controversy by suggesting that a ballistic missile strike on Syria ordered by the US leader, had served as “after-dinner entertainment”.

In 2011 a royal decree was issued in Saudi Arabia, warning against “deviant intellectual and partisan connections and anything that leads to disunity and fragmentation of the nation” - effectively outlawing public protest.

A number of people have subsequently been sentenced to death or long prison terms in the oil rich Middle Eastern nation.

Ali al-Nimr was just 17 years old when he was sentenced to death by crucifixion after he was accused of participation in an illegal demonstration and a large number of other offences. These included “explaining how to give first aid to protestors” and using his blackberry to invite others to join him at the protest.

Ali was tortured and forced to sign a false confession. This was the only evidence brought against him.

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Prominent Saudi human rights lawyer Waleed abu Alkhair, was sentenced by a Jeddah court to 15 years in prison for crimes including “inciting public opinion” in 2014, the same year that Raif Badawi, a blogger, was handed a 10-year sentence and 1,000 lashes in 2014 for insulting Islam online.

In November, Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh was also sentenced to death for blasphemy, although his punishment was later reduced to eight years in prison and 800 lashes.

Delivering his first presidential speech in Riyadh, Mr Trump neglected to mention Saudi Arabia's human rights violations during his 36-minute address.