SAUDI ARABIA: THE CASE OF KHALED AL RASHED BROUGHT AGAIN BEFORE THE UN
On 30 November 2022, Alkarama alerted the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the situation of Mr Khaled bin Mohamed AL RASHED, detained since 2006 and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for having publicly criticized the policies of the country's leaders.
Although he should have been released on October 6, 2020, after serving his full sentence, he was again sentenced to an additional 25 years' imprisonment for the same offenses after an unfair trial.
A first opinion of the UN Working Group
Mr. Al Rashed is a known member of the "reformers" movement who was arrested on March 19, 2006 in Mecca, while performing the religious pilgrimage of "Omra" with his wife. It was only a month after this arbitrary arrest by the Mabahiths (Intelligence) services that his family learned that he had been subjected to torture during his incommunicado detention.
This arrest occurred shortly after he had publicly criticized the authorities' international policy. At the request of his family, Alkarama first submitted his case to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which issued Opinion No. 4/2007 (SAUDI ARABIA) describing his detention as arbitrary and calling on the authorities to release him.
However, despite this Opinion, the Saudi government never took any action to remedy the situation; on the contrary, Mr. Al Rashed was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in a closed trial without a lawyer. When he appealed this unjust decision on 6 April 2009, the judge tripled his sentence to 15 years without giving him the opportunity to defend himself against the charges or to be assisted by a lawyer.
Mr. Al Rashed's family believes that this judgment, handed down two years after the publication of the Working Group's opinion, constitutes a form of retaliation for the submission of his case to the UN special procedures.
A second conviction on the grounds of the same facts
Although Mr. Al Rashed should have been released on October 6, 2020, after serving his full sentence handed down on April 6, 2009, he was re-convicted following an unfair trial.
Like many political prisoners who have served their sentences, Mr. Al Rashed was ordered to "publicly acknowledge his mistakes.
When he refused to comply with their orders, he was summoned to the Special Criminal Court in February 2022 and tried again on the same charges for which he had already been convicted on 6 April 2009. During the trial, he was asked to retract his previous statements, which he refused, and was sentenced to an additional 25 years in prison.
Obviously, no new facts of a criminal nature have been established against him that would justify such a heavy sentence. The only reason for this new sentence is his refusal to obey the orders of the authorities who consider that he still represents a danger because of his moral authority in Saudi society and his freedom of thought which is incompatible with the absolute monarchy.
From a legal point of view, it is clear that Mr. Al Rashed was sentenced, in violation of the fundamental principle of ne bis in idem, for the same facts for which he had already been definitively sentenced in 2009 and which fell within his right to freedom of conscience, expression and opinion.
Alkarama is particularly concerned by these serious violations and has therefore submitted a case to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to urge Saudi Arabia to implement the opinion issued in 2009 and release Mr Al Rashed without delay.