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.
Bilal Abu Haikal, a 24 year old Lebanese student, has been held in Saudi Arabia since 18 July 2009, yet was never brought before a judge during the first 18 months of his detention. When he was presented to a judge in early February of this year, he was sentenced without a trial to two years in prison, in clear violation of internationals norms for a fair trial. Despite having served this 2 year term which ended on 28 June 2011, Abu Haikal remains detained in Al Hayr Prison in Saudi Arabia with no legal justification.
Alaaeddin Al Rashi, a 37-year-old Syrian human rights activist and publisher, was arrested on 20 March by agents of the Saudi Intelligence services as he was travelling to Saudi Arabia on a business trip.
Detained for over a year at Dammam prison, Murad Al Mukhlif, a 36-years-old school director and father to two children, has suffered severe acts of torture. His family, who was not allowed to visit him in prison for a year, recently learned that the severe beatings he had received on his back led to the paralysis of both his legs.
The Saudi Arabian security services arrested Dr. Youssef Ben Abdullah Al Ahmad at his father's house in Dammam on Friday 8 July 2011 without presenting a warrant or any reasons for his arrest. They seized his mobile phone, his computer and his car. This illegal search took place without permission and outside the time authorized for this type of action.
Mr. Abdul Hakim Gellani, a British citizen, was arrested 19 November 2005 during a business trip in Saudi Arabia. Detained from December 2005, he was finally released in July 2006 after seven months of secret detention. After obtaining a visa to return to the United Kingdom where his family lives and giving an interview to Al Jazeera, he was again arrested on 8 August 2007 and detained in secret for two months.
Mr. Khaled Al-Twijri, a Saudi Arabian national, was travelling to Jordan in July 2008 when he was arrested and extradited to Saudi Arabia on 25 January 2009. His family was informed neither of his arrest nor of his extradition.
Mr. Khaled Abdulrahman Al-Twijri normally lives in the province of Quassim in Saudi Arabia. Following a trip to Jordan in July 2008, the family of Mr. Al-Twijri had not received news of him for some months. Despite multiple attempts to get the Jordanian government to recognize the arrest or detention, they have never done so.
