Saudi Arabia: Mr Al-Rimi, Yemeni national, detained arbitrarily

On 4 August 2009 Alkarama sent a communication to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention asking it to intercede with the Saudi authorities in the case of Mr Al-Rimi.

Mr Aziz Said Ghaleb  Al-Rimi was born in 1970 and worked as a teacher Sana'a. He was traveling to Saudi Arabia in order to visit various legal and scientific libraries. On the Al-Tiwal border his bus was stopped by the Saudi police who arrested him without a warrant or any official notification.

Mr Al Rimi has been detained for 9 months in Al-Tayef prison, without any charges having been brought against him and without being brought before a judge. Subsequently, he was not informed of proceedings brought against him. To our knowledge, he has not been allowed to challenge the lawfulness of his detention.

Since his arrest, Mr Al-Rimi was able to contact his family only twice, the last time was in early May 2009. They are deep affected by his absence as he is the sole bread-winner for his parents, his wife, children and his brother's grandson.

The family has made unsuccessful attempts to find information about him by contacting the Embassy of Yemen in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Embassy in Yemen. She is gravely concerned about the state of his health.

Alkarama requests that Mr. Al Rimi either be released or brought to justice. He is obviously deprived of his liberty in an arbitrary manner and his current detention is contrary to both domestic legal norms and the relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information or an interview, please contact media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).