Saudi Arabia: Prisoner of Conscience Khalid Al-Rashid will complete in two months his unfair sentence of 15 years

Al-Rashed

Saudi preacher Khaled Mohammed Hamad Al-Rashid is due to complete in August 2020 a period of 15 years of imprisonment imposed by the Saudi authorities following an unfair trial and despite of an Opinion from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) condemning his detention.
Alkarama expresses its hopes that Mr. Al-Rashid will be soon released, and that the end of the brutal and prolonged detention will bring relief to him and his family.
Alkarama had followed the case of Mr. Al- Rashid, who was detained at Al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh throughout the ordeal of detention and unfair trials. It has raised its case before the WGAD, on April 30, 2006. On 8 April 2007, and following Alkarama’s submission, WGAD issued Opinion No. 4/2007 which considered Al- Rashid’s detention as arbitrary. The Opinion stated that that the detention of Mr. Al- Rashid violated Articles 9 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that it fell categories 1 and 2 of WGAD. Furthermore, WGAD reported that Mr. Al-Rashid was being held in solitary confinement and subjected to ill-treatment during his arrest and while in detention. It called on the Saudi government to take the necessary measures to bring in line its treatment of Mr. Al-Rashid with the standards and principles contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mr. Khalid bin Muhammad bin Hamad Al-Rashid, born on 3/18/1962, retired from Saudi Aramco Company and gave lectures at the Fahd Bin Mufleh Al-Subaie Mosque in Al-Thuqbah.
Mr. Al-Rashid was arrested on 19 March 2006 in Makkah where he was accompanied by his wife on their trip to perform the Umrah pilgrimage. He was then transferred days after his arrest by Security forces from Makkah to Al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh. It is believed that the reason for the arrest is directly linked to his exercise of the right to express criticism of some Saudi politicians.