Alkarama submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention the cases of 12 Egyptian nationals unlawfully detained in Saudi Arabia today. Despite the long years passed since their arrests they have not been brought before a judge nor have been formally charged in violation of international law.
Alkarama learned that the Saudi Authorities released last week Mr Saed Saad Mohammed al-Hazimi who was arrested nine years ago without any legal proceedings.
Mr Hazimi was initially arrested in 2001 and remained in jail for 3 months. He was later arrested in 2002 where he was moved between many Saudi prisons before he ended up in the Zahban prison in Jeddah where he stayed, until he was released nine years later, without being charged and without any legal proceedings against him.
The specialised criminal court in Riyadh issued a verdict on Sunday 19 February 2012 to release the reformer and political opponent Dr Said bin Zair after a detention that lasted more than four years.
Dr Bin Zair, Laureate of the 2011 Alkarama Award and a well known persona
Mr Omar Abdelmohsen Al Qaid, a 24-year-old Saudi national, was arrested on 28 November 2010 and remains in detention since then without legal proceedings. He is therefore arbitrarily deprived of his liberty and Alkarama informed the UN Special Procedures of his case today.
On 31 January 2012, Alkarama received information from the family of Mr Mohamed Fahd Wajan Al Shamari, stating that King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia had approved the decision to execute Mr Al Shamari after he was subjected to an unfair trial.
Mr Khaled Al Khedairy was arrested on 4 July 2005 and remains in detention without legal procedures until this day, six and a half years after his arrest. The Saudi citizen and father of five children was arrested in Al Salihiya District, Riyadh, by agents of the Mabahith, the Saudi investigative police.
The Specialised Criminal Court of Riyadh issued harsh issued sentences today ranging from 13 to 30 years against Dr Saud Mukhtar Al-Hashimi, Sulaiman Al-Rashoudi and a group of Saudi reformers who have been in detention for several years without any legal proceedings, nor being charged, nor being allowed to appoint lawyers, and even deprived of visits of their relatives and friends, who have tried in vain to discover the reasons for their detention.
Tomorrow, Wednesday 23 November 2011, Dr Said bin Zair, laureate of the Alkarama prize for 2011, a reformer and a member of the pol
Arrested on 26 December 2005 by the infamous Saudi investigative police (Al-Mabahith), detained for six years without any legal proceedings, held in solitary confinement, torture.. Abdulaziz Al-Barahim seems to share the exact same plight as thousands of other Saudi citizens detained in the Saudi prisons...
Following complaints about prison conditions which Mr Mikhlif Al Shammari, a 56 year old human rights defender from Saudi Arabia, sent to the Director General of prisons in Saudi Arabia, he was taken from his cell by prison guards on 27 July 2011 and subjected to severe torture including threats to his life followed by an attempt to kill him.
