On 7 October 2008, Mr Al-Rimi was arrested by Saudi police at Al-Tiwal while he was crossing the border from Yemen to Saudi Arabia. Since then, he has been arbitrarily detained at Al-Tayef prison.
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.
Dr. Saud Mukhtar Al-Hashimi, arrested with eight other persons on 2 February 2007 by the Intelligence Services (Mabahith) in Jeddah, is currently detained and subject to ill treatment. Due to his hunger strike that began on 1 June 2009 he has been the victim of retaliation.
Alkarama called upon the Special Rapporteur on torture on 21 July 2009 asking him to urgently intervene with the Saudi authorities to stop the abuse of Dr Al-Hashimi.
Despite the recent orders of the Saudi judicial inquiry for the release of two detainees, arrested for trying to organize a peaceful demonstration in early January 2009, the Executive Authorities in Saudi Arabia represented by the General Investigative Services have refused to comply with the orders of the judiciary, and insist on the arbitrary detention of a number of persons who tried to organize the demonstration, including Mr Khalid Suleiman Al-‘Omeir and Mr Mohammad Al-Oteibi, who were arrested six months without ever facing any legal proceedings.
On 10 June 2009, the Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted the Working Group's report on Saudi Arabia. During their fourth session of the Universal Periodic Review (2-13 February 2009) the human rights situation in Iraq was also discussed.
Alkarama was informed that Abdullah Al-Souidani was released on May 31 2009. The Qatari citizen was stopped at the border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia on 9 May 2009. He was held incommunicado at the Al-Hayr prison without his family being able to reach him. Finally released, he was able to return to Qatar.
Alkarama sought the intervention of the Special Rapporteur on Torture, requesting him to intervene with Saudi authorities.
Abdullah Al-Souidani, a Qatari national, was arrested on 9 May 2009 on the border with Saudi Arabia where he was planning a visit. He is being held in Al-Hayr prison since without his family being able to receive news of his condition.
On 20 May 2009 Alkarama sent a communication to the Special Rapporteur on Torture, asking him to urgently intervene with the Saudi authorities, due to the risk of torture people run when held incommunicado.
Alkarama was informed of opinion 31/2008 issued by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in November 2008, which described the detention of Abdel Rahman Samara as arbitrary.
Dr. Al-Basher, professor at the University of Riyadh, where he resides, has been detained incommunicado since 15 March 2007. For two years, other than a single visit, his family knows nothing of his future. Al-Karama sent on 14 April 2009 an urgent appeal to the Rapporteur on torture and requested the Working Group on arbitrary detention, asking them to intervene with Saudi authorities.
Al-Karama has been informed that when Khaled Al-Rashed, a member of the so-called "reformers", appealed his prison sentence, it was immediately tripled. He was arrested in 2006 and sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment in a trial held behind closed doors.
He appealed this decision at the Hay'at Al-Tamyz court, which was acting as a court of appeal in this case.
Al-Karama recently received the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's opinion 37/2008 dated 21 November 2008 regarding the arrest and detention of Dr.
