Mubarak Bin Said Ben Zaïr and Jihad Abdulkarim Al-Khodr, both sons of prominent Saudi human rights activists, were amongst those arrested during peaceful protests outside the Interior Ministry in Riyadh on 20 March 2011. Demonstrators were calling for the release of thousands of longstanding prisons held in Saudi prisons without charge or trial. The two men remain in custody despite not having been charged.
On 21 March 2011, Saudi General Investigation forces in Buraydah arrested Mohammed Salih Al-Bjady, a co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), an NGO which has worked closely with Alkarama over the years. Though the exact reasons for Mr Al-Bjady's arrest are unknown, his family and colleagues believe that the main reason is his recent participation in a protest organised by the families of political detainees calling for the release of their relatives.
Dozens were arrested outside Saudi Interior Ministry in Riyadh, yesterday 20 March 2011, during protests by family members of arbitrary detainees in Saudi Arabian prisons. Mubarak Bin Zair, son of Said Bin Zair, is amongst those arrested.
Alkarama denounces the arrests and continues to bolster its condemnation of arbitrary detention in Saudi Arabia.
The families of abitrary detainees should be allowed to freely expresses their grievances against the Saudi regime's continued refusal to address the phenomenon of illegal detention without trial or charge.
Alkarama welcomes the incorporation of a number of cases submitted to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in the List of Issues prepared by the Committee against Torture in view of Saudi Arabia's periodic review.
Yesterday, 16 February 2010, Muhammad Al-Qahtani and six other Saudi human rights activists were arrested, without being shown a warrant, by plainclothes Saudi security personnel at their homes. This arrest follows their attempts to start a reformist political party, which was presented to the Royal Diwan for authorisation and approval.
Sources have confirmed the release of Dr. Muhammad Bin Abdallah Bin Ali Al Abdulkarim, a Saudi political prisoner. The Saudi authorities arrested him on 5 December 2010 after he published an article on the political situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
On 3 March 2010, 20-year-old Thamer Alkhodr was arrested by security agents. At the time of his arrest, he was not shown a warrant nor was he charged. He would spend his first two days in secret detention. Following his arrest, the agents searched his home without a warrant - confiscating some of his personal belongings including two computers belonging to his father.
The past 3 months have seen a serious worsening of the situation of Dr Saud Al Hashimi, the 48 year old Saudi doctor and human rights defender arbitrarily detained since 2 February 2007 in al Ruweis detention center, in Jeddah. Following 4 years of continual protest by Dr Al-Hashimi at his detention conditions and the lack of any trial, he has again been subjected to serious torture to pressure him to accept charges fabricated by the Ministry of Interior to justify his arrest and detention and forcing him to refuse legal help.
Mr Ali Abdulrahmane Al-Faqasi, a Saudi university student, has been detained without any trial or charge for over 7 and a half years. He gave himself up to the Saudi authorities on 26 June 2003, hoping to secure the release of 9 members of his family, including his wife, who had been arrested by the Saudi authorities to put pressure on Mr Al-Faqasi. He has been held since, in very difficult conditions in Al-Hayr prison, in Riyadh and with limited access to the outside world.
An outspoken professor of Religious Science at a University in Riyadh, 50 year old Dr Bachr bin Fahd Al-Bachr, remains detained in Al-Hayr prison suffering from a precarious health situation. Dr Al-Bachr had long since been targeted by the Saudi authorities over his criticism of the Saudi government's policies, only to be arrested by the Saudi Investigative Police on 15 March 2007 in Riyadh. To date, he has spent 3 years and 9 months detained in Saudi Arabia without charge or trial.
Since his arrest, Alkarama has been closely following Dr Al-Bachr's case.
