Saudi Arabia: Abdullah Hassan could be extradited to Libya, risk of torture

Abdullah Hassan, a member of the living in Ireland, was arrested in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 19 November 2005 and detained incommunicado for more than nine months before being released. Following his release, his passport was confiscated and he was unable to leave the country. He was arrested again on 17 May 2007, and is now held incommunicado and threatened with extradition to Libya.

On 11 June 2010 Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur against Torture requesting his intervention with the Saudi authorities for Abdullah Hassan's release.

Abdullah Abubakr Hassan Abdullah Hassan, 42, lives in Dublin, Ireland with his wife and three children where he works in a travel agency that organizes pilgrimages to Mecca.

Abdullah Hassan was first arrested on 19 November 2005 by intelligence services to the hotel Burj Al-Aqsa in Mecca. He was held incommunicado for nine months at Abha prison before being released without trial in July 2006. His passport was confiscated and was thus unable to return to Ireland.

His wife made various attempts in Dublin in order to retrieve his passport, so that he can leave Saudi Arabia, but to no avail.

Abdullah Hassan was under constant police surveillance before his arrest on 17 May 2007 and is detained incommunicado at Abha prison despite his fragile state of health and an upper limb disability.

His health began to deteriorate while in detention and eventually on 20 April 2010 he was urgently transferred to a hospital in Mecca. While at the hospital, he was able to call his wife, albeit very briefly, to inform her of his situation and particularly the fact that the Saudi authorities were planning to extradite him to Libya.

Abdullah Hassan is now at serious risk of being tortured if extradited to Libya. His extradition would constitute a serious violation by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Article 3 of the Covention against Torture which states that "No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

Alkarama expresses, on the one hand, great concern that Abdullah Hassan's state of health will continue to diminish if he remains detained under particularly inhuman conditions; and, on the other hand, apprehensiveness that the Saudi authorities might choose to extradite him to Libya, where he risk being tortured. Alkarama requests that he be immediately released and thus able to return to Ireland.