Saudi Arabia: Dr Said b.Mubarek b.Zair, detained incommunicado for a year
Alkarama sent on 7 June 2008, a reminder communication to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention regarding Dr Said b.Mubarek b.Zair. He has been held in incommunicado detention, since 6 June 2007 and Alkarama has requested the Working Group to intercede with the Saudi authorities.
Dr Said B. Zair, aged 57, is a Professor of Information Science at the University of Riyadh and is a known personality in the country for his public position in favour of the need for institutional reforms as well as his support for the "Reform Movement" in Saudi Arabia.
He was arrested on 6 June 2007 and since then his family has had no news of him, the authorities refusing to provide any information on his fate.
The last information obtained by Alkarama during his urgent appeal on 3 July 2007 reported his presence in the prison of Al Alicha, but he would have been transferred to another place of detention where he is held incommunicado and his family now lives in a permanent state of anxiety.
Dr. Said B. Zair has previously been imprisoned several times, without trial and without ever having been prosecuted by law. He has experienced particularly painful conditions of detention for over 10 years, during which he has never had access to legal counsel or family visits.
He was held incommunicado for over 8 years, from 5 March 1995 to 24 March 2003 and then he was arrested a second time on 20 April 2004 for having granted an interview to the television channel Al Jazeera.
On 19 September 2004, he was sentenced to 5 years rigorous imprisonment in the wake of an unfair trial during which none of his fundamental rights were respected. He never had access to file charges or benefited from a lawyer to assist him during his trial.
These successive detentions have had a serious consequences on his physical health since he suffered before his arrest from chronic illnesses. His family learned a few weeks after his last arrest that he had begun a hunger strike and she fears the consequences on his health.
There is no doubt that the current deprivation of liberty of Dr. Said b. Zair is in line with previous ones and is motivated solely by the desire to prevent him from freely and peacefully express his political opinions.
His current incommunicado detention, without contact with the outside world and without due process of law is arbitrary and contrary to relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Saudi Arabia has not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is a member of the Human Rights Council (2006-2009).