Alkarama recently filed a complaint with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to denounce the arrest and enforced disappearance of Suleiman Al-Duwaish, a prominent religious figure in the country.
Suleiman Al-Duwaish was arrested on 22 April 2016 by members of Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salmane's personal guard after posting tweets criticising his policies and has since disappeared, with his family still unaware of his fate.
Kidnapping followed by torture
According to testimonies gathered from released detainees, Suleiman Al-Duwaish was immediately taken to the Royal Palace in Riyadh after his arrest.
There he was presented to the Crown Prince, who humiliated and violently beat him, insulting him and blaming him for his tweets until he lost consciousness. Witnesses report that he was then held alone in a dungeon in the palace before being transferred to al-Hayr prison in Riyadh, where he was held in the Mabahit section; he was last seen there in April 2017, according to several testimonies shared with his family. Despite numerous representations from his family, no information has been released on his fate.
The Saudi authorities have categorically denied his arrest, although his name appeared on the official list of detainees published by the Saudi General Directorate of Investigations (Al Mabahit) before being removed.
Repression extends to his family
Efforts by Suleiman Al-Duwaish's family to shed light on his fate have been systematically repressed. His three sons were themselves arrested one after the other as a result of their efforts.
Abdelwahab Suleiman Al-Duwaish and Abdelrahman Suleiman Al-Duwaish were arrested after requesting an investigation into his arrest by members of the Crown Prince's personal guard. Malek Suleiman Al-Duwaish was arrested on 5 July 2022 after releasing a video denouncing his father's enforced disappearance and the authorities' inaction. He was subsequently sentenced to 27 years in prison by the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh for criticising the Crown Prince.
A flagrant breach of international law
Alkarama recalls that the treatment suffered by Suleiman Al-Duwaish constitutes a series of particularly serious violations of the fundamental principles of international law.
Faced with this situation and the total impossibility of recourse to the country's judicial system, the victim's family had no choice but to turn to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, asking it to urge the Saudi authorities to officially recognise Suleiman Al-Duwaish's detention and place him under the protection of the law.
Alkarama calls on the Saudi authorities to urgently provide his family with information about the victim, to end his incommunicado detention and to release his children, who are being held in retaliation for their attempts to find out their father's fate.