Saudi citizens who are convicted of fighting in conflicts abroad now face prison sentences of three to 20 years, under a new royal decree issued this week.  

The decree also imposes penalties of between five and 30 years in prison for Saudi Arabians who join or endorse groups it classifies as terrorist organisations, whether inside or outside the country

The move is believed to be aimed at preventing the kingdom’s citizens from travelling to Syria to fight alongside rebels battling the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Saudi Arabia’s Islamic religious authorities have previously urged Saudi fighters not to go to Syria, but as many as 1,200 Saudi Arabians are estimated to have gone there nonetheless.

The Saudi government has given money and arms to rebel groups in Syria, but does not want its citizens to go there to fight in case they join militant Islamist groups that could then target the kingdom’s ruling Al-Saud family.