Mabrook Al Sai'ari, a 43 year-old Saudi national detained at Najran prison, could be executed in two months. Or not. His fate depends on a family living at the border with Yemen who will use this decisive 'term' to decide whether or not to forgive him for the murder of their beloved one.
karim Al-Khodr, a long-standing Saudi human rights defender, was sentenced to eight years in prison and a 10-year travel ban. Alkarama is deeply concerned by the acts of reprisals against ACPRA human rights defenders, especially those who cooperate with the United Nations.
Yahya Hussein Ahmad Shaqibel, a 33 year-old Yemeni national, was arrested in October 2009 by unidentified Malaysian security forces on demand of Saudi intelligence services (Mabahith) while on a business trip in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was then transferred to Saudi Arabia where he was arrested upon arrival in Riyadh. After almost four years of arbitrary detention, he is now accused of 'khariji' and terrorism and is awaiting his verdict.
Mr Al Shaqibel was born in Saudi Arabia in 1980, and lived there until he moved back to Yemen indefinitely in 2006.
On 10 June, dozens of women and children in the Saudi cities of Al-Jawf, Ha'il, Mecca, Riyadh, Buraydah and other areas came out in a nationwide protest that they named the "Freedom Sit-In".
Alkarama has received information from the families of Yemeni prisoners in Saudi Arabian prisons communications with their loved ones detained in Saudi Arabia has been cut for about a month for reasons that remain unclear.
According to these families, who fear that this severing of communications is a form of re
Fawzan Mohsen Oud Al-Harbi, acting president of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA) told Alkarama that he was summoned to appear tomorrow 11 May 2013 before the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution in Riyadh. This follows several years of reprisal campaigns launched by the Saudi authorities against human rights defenders, including ACPRA members and the group known as the 'Reformists'.
Iwad Al Hayki, a 33 year-old Yemeni national has been imprisoned in Al Qasim Prison since 18 October 2010, the day he was extradited by Qatar to the Saudi authorities. Detained incommunicado for almost a year in solitary confinement, he has been subjected to severe torture. To date, he has never been charged or tried.
The Saudi authorities should immediately release Mohammad Al Qahtani and Abdullah Al Hamid, two Saudi human rights defenders and co-founders of the Saudi Association for civil and political rights (ACPRA). The two men were sentenced last Saturday to 10 and 11 years in prison on accusations including "breaking allegiance to the King", "disseminating false information through foreign entities" and "forming an unlicensed organization".
Alkarama firmly condemns the execution of the seven detainees at 8 this morning on a public place in Abha by firing squad. In a statement published today, a group of UN independent experts "expressed outrage" at the execution "despite repeated calls to the Saudi authorities not to carry out the sentences by the UN and civil society organisations".
Seven young men, poor and unemployed, robbed jewellery stores in different places at different times, but all ended up in the same jail. This could be the beginning of one of the gangster movies or social-dramas to be rewarded at the Oscars this year. Quite an intriguing setting, if you consider that the story takes place in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It would have been banal, if it was just a story.
But the seven men have names, voices, faces and fears.
