Saudi Arabia: M. Abdulrahim Al-Murbati, a native of Bahrain, missing since June 06, 2008

Mr. Abdulrahim Ali Abdellah AL-MURBATI was born on December 28, 1960 in Bahrain, he is a merchant and his family lives in Bahrain. He was arrested by the Saudi General Intelligence services (Al Mabahit Al Aama) on August 22, 2003 in Medina where he owns a residence and where he regularly lived with his family for several years.

After his arrest, his family had no news of him for more than four months despite numerous representations to the Saudi Interior Ministry. It was only until December 2003 that they learned he was being held in Al Alicha prison near Riyadh. They could visit him after an intervention by the Embassy of Bahrain in Riyadh.

It was during this first visit to the Al Alicha prison that his family has learned that Mr. Al-Murbati was initially detained for three months in the Ruwais prison in Jeddah before being transferred to Al Alicha.

The family also learned on this occasion that he has been brutally tortured since his arrest: He was whipped many times, and during each interrogation, with electric cables on the back and the soles of his feet. He was detained, without access to any basic care, in a solitary frigid cell, lit day and night with a very strong light.

He also reported having been interrogated by intelligence services on its past activities in a non-governmental charity organization, recognized and funded in the recent past by the Saudi authorities themselves and active in the humanitarian field in the Afghan refugee camps during the Soviet occupation.

No charge has not been notified to him and Mr. Al-Murbati has indeed never been brought before a magistrate.

The family of Mr. Al-Murbati tried to mandate a lawyer to assist him but none was accepted because of the Saudi veto of allowing a counsel to assist a detainee. His family has been allowed to visit him in various prisons where he was transferred until early March 2008. At that time Mr. Al-Murbati was still at the prison in Jeddah, and he was transferred back at an unspecified date in the prison of Al Hayr in Riyadh.

His family was no longer allowed to visit him and when it visited the prison of Al Hayr, the administration has communicated to them that Mr. Al-Murbati was no longer in the facility since June 06, 2008 without, however, providing further details.

Despite the many pleas of his family towards the authorities, the latter have refused to provide information on his fate. However, the Bahraini Embassy in Riyadh has informed recently the family that after they made representations to Saudi authorities, they have been officially notified that the Saudis do not recognize detaining Mr. Al-Murbati anymore.

The family of Mr. Al-Murbati is particularly concerned about his fate and fears that the denial of his detention by Saudi authorities will be used to cover serious violations that he may have been subjected to. It therefore calls for an urgent intervention to ensure that Mr. Al-Murbati is placed under the protection of the law, that his family is informed of his place of detention and allowed to visit him and a that lawyer be allowed to assist him in accordance with Article 2 of Royal Decree No. M.39.

Mr. Al-Murbati is undeniably arbitrarily deprived of his liberty since his arrest nearly 5 years ago, which constitutes a serious violation of his most basic rights.

His current detention is contrary to both the internal legal standards as well as the international standards enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.