Saudi Arabia: Khaled Al-Rashed unjustly sentenced to an additional eight-year imprisonment after having already spent more than 16 years in arbitrary detention
Alkarama has learned that Saudi authorities have arbitrarily sentenced reformist preacher Khaled Al-Rashed to an additional eight-year imprisonment. The heavy additional sentence comes 17 months after he completed his initial 15-year prison sentence following an unfair trial for having peacefully exercised his right to freedom of expression.
The action of Alkarama
Alkarama had followed Al-Rashed's case throughout his detention and unfair trial. While detained in Al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh, Alkarama referred his case to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on 30 April 2006.
Following this referral, the UN experts published on 8 April 2007 Opinion No. 4/2007 which considered al-Rashed's detention to be arbitrary. The opinion stated that Mr. Al-Rashed's detention violated articles 9 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The experts also highlighted Al-Rashed’s solitary confinement and ill-treatment during his arrest and throughout his detention. The working group called on the Saudi government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the treatment of Al-Rashed is in accordance with the standards and principles set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Khalid bin Muhammad bin Hamad Al-Rashed, born on 18 March 1962, retired from the "Saudi Aramco Company" before becoming a lecturer at the Fahd Bin Mufleh Al-Subaie Mosque in Al-Thuqbah. He was arrested on 19 March 2006 in Mecca in the presence of his wife who accompanied him on a journey to complete the “Umrah” pilgrimage. Days after his arrest, he was transferred by security forces from Mecca to Al-Ha'ir prison in Saudi capital Riyadh.
His arrest was directly linked to the exercise of his right to freedom of peaceful expression and his criticism of certain Saudi leaders.
Developments in the case
Recently, the Ryadh Court of Appeal decided to retry Mr. Khaled Al-Rashid and added an additional 8 years to his initial 15-year prison sentence that he has completed in September 2020. The Saudi authorities have maintained his detention pending his new trial.
The "Prisoners of Conscience” Twitter account, which documents the situation of prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia, announced that Al-Rashed had been transferred on November 26, 2021, from Al-Hayer prison to the General Intelligence Service’s facilities. The services had insisted on his transfer, despite the deterioration of his state of health reported by the prison administration.
While he had been forcibly disappeared after his arrest, Mr. Khaled Al-Rashed was also subjected to ill-treatment all thorough his detention. In addition, the authorities are denying him access to a lawyer and making it difficult for him to communicate with his family.
Al-Rashed was initially sentenced to 5 years in prison. An appeal was filed requesting a reduction of his sentence. But Judge Saleh Al-Ajiri rejected it in response to Al-Rashed's protest his unfair trial. This was followed by an increase in the sentence to up to 15 years' imprisonment.