24 April 2013

Six reformist prisoners of conscience have been kept behind bars, while 10 others, several of whom were out on bail, are now released under a “pardon” on condition that they give up their activism.

Ten men were released under a royal “pardon” in January, but only if they signed a pledge not to repeat their offences or engage in public activism, and thanked the King. Six others held with them and not released are prisoners of conscience: Dr Suliaman al-Rashudi, Dr Saud al-Hashimi, Dr Musa al-Qirni, Abdul Rahman al-Shumayri, Abdul Rahman Khan and Abdullah al-Rifa’i. At least two of these men are understood to have been offered the same conditional release but rejected it.

Former judge Dr Suliaman al-Rashudi, aged 76, was rearrested on 12 December 2012, two days after he had given a lecture at an informal social gathering on the lawfulness under Shari’a of holding demonstrations. He was held incommunicado, in solitary confinement, until 16 February. He has since been allowed visits from his family and is no longer in solitary confinement. Dr Saud al-Hashimi’s mother is very ill, and he has asked repeatedly to be allowed to visit her, but has been refused.

Dr Suliaman al-Rashudi and Dr Saud al-Hashimi had been among nine men detained in February 2007 in the cities of Jeddah and Medina after they circulated a petition calling for political reform and discussed a proposal to establish an independent human rights organization in Saudi Arabia. Seven other men connected to Dr Saud al-Hashimi were later arrested. Dr al-Rashudi was released on bail on 23 June 2011. On 22 November 2011, the 16 men were convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 30 years followed by travel bans.

Additional Information

The 16 men were sentenced on 22 November 2011 to between five and 30 years’ imprisonment by the Specialized Criminal Court, which had been set up to deal with terrorism-related offences. They were convicted of charges such as “forming a secret organization”, “attempting to seize power”, “incitement against the King”, “financing terrorism”, and money laundering. Trial proceedings in their cases were grossly unfair. Lawyers and families were denied details of the charges against the men for months and were also denied access to many of the court proceedings.

Dr Suliaman al-Rushudi was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by a 15-year travel ban, on charges including “participating in forming an organization called Tawasso’ in order to spread chaos under the cover of advice and reform”. Tawasso’ means the human rights organization some of the men had planned to set up. Dr Suliaman al-Rushudi remained at liberty pending his appeal, but was rearrested on 12 December 2012, two days after he had given a lecture in an informal social gathering on the lawfulness under Shari’a of holding demonstrations. A video of his lecture was posted on YouTube and Twitter on 11 December.

Dr Saud al-Hashimi received the most severe sentence, 30 years’ imprisonment followed by a 30-year travel ban. In late 2010 he is believed to have been tortured for going on hunger strike for over a week; he was stripped to his underwear, shackled and dragged from his cell, put in an extremely cold cell for about five hours, and forced to sign a “confession”. Dr Saud al-Hashimi was later accused of “belonging to al-Qa’ida inside the country, promoting and calling for it and for other terrorist organizations and activities targeting this country”. His lawyer argued that Dr Saud al-Hashimi had been on record expressing anti-al-Qai’da views and played a role in seeking to convince others not to go to Iraq to fight. As for allegations around financing terrorism in Iraq, the lawyer noted that Dr Saud had helped to raise money on TV channels that were free to operate in Saudi Arabia and were meant to help the Iraqi people, not terrorists, and that this was done with official permission and in collaboration with a UK charity, Help the Needy.

The 16 men were the subject of UA 27/07. An update was issued after Dr Suliaman al-Rashudi was rearrested.

In Saudi Arabia criticism of the state is not generally tolerated. Those who do criticize the government, their policies or practices, are often held incommunicado without charge, sometimes in solitary confinement, denied access to lawyers or the courts to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. Torture or other ill-treatment is frequently used to extract “confessions” from detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent”, or to force them to undertake not to criticize the government. Incommunicado detention often lasts until a “confession” is obtained, which can take months and occasionally years. If a person is charged, it is sometimes with vague security-related offences such as “disobeying the ruler”. Legal proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial; defendants are generally denied legal counsel, and in many cases, they and their families are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. Court hearings are often held behind closed doors.

For more information on violations of freedom of expression in the name of security see the report Saudi Arabia: Repression in the name of security.

(Sanaa) – Saudi Arabia should end the arbitrary detention and travel bans inflicted on those who peacefully exercise their freedom of speech or assembly, Human Rights Watch said today. Several intellectuals remain in detention one year or longer for charges relating to their exercise of freedom of speech and assembly, while others have been newly targeted over the past two weeks with bans on foreign travel.

“Saudi Arabia is redoubling its efforts to punish those who dare to demand democracy and human rights reform,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of imposing arbitrary travel bans and holding activists in long-term detention, Saudi authorities should be respecting basic rights including freedom of expression and movement.”

The latest steps in Saudi Arabia’s relentless campaign to quash peaceful political dissent came in late March, when prosecutors banned foreign travel by two prominent rights activists, Muhammad Fahd al-Qahtani and Walid Abu al-Khair.

On March 20, al-Qahtani responded to a summons from Riyadh prosecutors the day before for interrogation about his human rights activities. On March 25, prosecutors imposed a travel ban on him, al-Qahtani told Human Rights Watch.

Jeddah prosecutors summoned Abu al-Khair on March 21, when they showed him an “urgent secret telegram” from the head of the Saudi prosecution service, Shaikh Muhammad al-Abdullah, stating that authorities had imposed an immediate ban on his planned foreign travel for “security reasons.”

Saudis have no judicial means to challenge travel bans.

Abu al-Khair, who founded the internet page Human Rights Monitor in Saudi Arabia, was due to leave for the United States on March 23 to participate as a fellow in the Leaders for Democracy Fellowship, the US State Department’s flagship international engagement project. Al-Qahtani, a university professor, is president and co-founder of the Saudi Association of Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), to which Saudi authorities have denied an operating license. Since mid-February, ACPRA has filed more than three dozen court cases against the Interior Ministry’s intelligence service, the mabahith, or Department for General Investigations, for arbitrary detention and in some cases also for torture.

Saudi Arabia’s prosecution service is part of the Interior Ministry and not independent. Saudi Arabia has no written criminal law, allowing prosecutors and judges to rely on their individual interpretations of Islamic precepts.

Since 2011, Saudi security forces have arrested hundreds of peaceful protesters and dissidents, primarily among Shia Muslim Saudis demonstrating in the Eastern Province. Protests there began in February 2011 and intensified in March, following Saudi Arabia’s military support of Bahrain’s repression of democracy protests there.

Nadhir al-Majid, a school laboratory technician from Qatif, has been held since April 13, 2011, by the mabahith, accused of corresponding with a foreign journalist, taking part in demonstrations, and vague charges related to his published writings critical of Shia religious doctrine. Fadhil al-Sulaiman, an education official from al-Ahsa, was arrested on March 17, after he led Shia protesters in peacefully demanding the release of prisoners, an end to religious discrimination, and the right to practice their faith freely. He was not immediately informed of the legal reason for his arrest.

Al-Majid’s wife, Khadija, told Human Rights Watch that interrogators focused on four articles her husband had written between 2005 and 2009 and published on a local website, The Civilized Dialogue. Three of those articles are critical of Shia religious personalities or doctrine, and a fourth, written in 2007, criticizes the interior minister, Prince Nayef, for “honoring the ‘terrorists’”by providing SAR10,000 (about US$2,670) to each Saudi returned from the US prison in Guantanamo on the occasion of their temporary release from Saudi detention for a religious holiday that year.

In December 2011, a person informed al-Majid’s family that the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh – a court established in 2008 for crimes against state security, including terrorism – had taken his case, but no hearing date has been set. On March 13, 2012, the same court in Riyadh scheduled the first session in al-Sulaiman’s case, but the judge did not show up, al-Sulaiman’s lawyer, Dr. Muhammad al-Shakhs, told Human Rights Watch. Al-Shakhs has not been formally notified of charges against his client, but said he informally learned that they relate to participating in a demonstration and resisting law enforcement officers.

Al-Sulaiman’s arm was broken during the arrest, which a local activist who spoke to the family said resulted from police use of force. Al-Majid also complained about ill-treatment at the hands of detention officials. His wife told Human Rights Watch that al-Majid spent five months in solitary confinement. When she was first allowed to see him, under the supervision of a guard in September, he told her his jailers had doubled his solitary confinement after two and a half months because he had written, “I am a scholar and the others talk drivel”on his cell wall. She was able to meet with him in a private setting for the first time in January, when al-Majid detailed to her the beatings, kicking, and forced standing for long hours in the interrogation room that he endured in the first days and weeks. The ill-treatment continued although he signed papers and authenticated them in a local court within days of his arrest. Al-Majid was not allowed any exercise for five months, and now is allowed a few minutes every two weeks in the exercise yard, she said.

In Saudi Arabia, ill-treatment other than prolonged solitary confinement most commonly takes place during interrogation and before court authentication of one’s statement, Human Rights Watch said.

“Saudi Arabiaseems to understand combating torture by arresting rights activists who attempt to sue torture suspects,”said Whitson. “As long as Saudi Arabia can continue to violate rights without criticism, it will be the rights activists and the torture victims, not the perpetrators, who pay a steep price.

30 January 2012

Thirty five Ethiopian Christians are awaiting deportation from Saudi Arabia for “illicit mingling,” after police arrested them when they raided a private prayer gathering in Jeddah in mid-December, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Of those arrested, 29 were women. They were subjected to arbitrary body cavity searches in custody, three of the Ethiopians told Human Rights Watch.

The Ethiopians gathered to pray together on December 15, during the advent of Christmas, in the private home of one of the Ethiopians, when police burst in and arrested them, three jailed members of the group, two women and one man, told Human Rights Watch.

“While King Abdullah sets up an international interfaith dialogue center, his police are trampling on the rights of believers of others faiths,” said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The Saudi government needs to change its own intolerant ways before it can promote religious dialogue abroad.”

In October, Saudi Arabia, together with Austria and Spain, founded the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, located in Vienna, and funded by Saudi Arabia.

The Ethiopian men spent two days at al-Nuzha police station in Jeddah, after which the police transferred them to Buraiman prison. The women had already been transferred to Buraiman prison. Two of the women said that officials there forced the women to strip, and then an officer inserted her finger into each of the women’s genitals, under the pretext of searching for illegal substances hidden inside their bodies. She wore a plastic glove that she did not change, the women told Human Rights Watch. Officers also kicked and beat the men in Buraiman prison, and insulted them as “unbelievers,” the jailed Ethiopian man said.

Both men and women complained of inadequate medical care and unsanitary conditions at Buraiman prison. There were too few toilets, they said. In the men’s wing, six of twelve toilets were reserved for Saudi inmates, while hundreds of foreign inmates were forced to share the remaining six toilets. One female detainee said she suffers from diabetes and was given an injection in the prison clinic that caused swelling, and has received no further medical attention.

The Ethiopians, speaking via telephone from prison, said that about 10 days after being arrested, some in the group were taken to court, where they were forced to affix their fingerprints to a document without being allowed to read it. Officials told the group that they were being charged with “illicit mingling” of unmarried persons of the opposite sex. Some of the Ethiopians have been living in the kingdom for 16 years, while others are newer arrivals. Some of the women and men did not have valid residency papers, but all faced deportation, including those with valid papers, the jailed Ethiopian man said.

In July 2006, the Saudi government promised that it would stop interfering with private worship by non-Muslims. In a “Confirmation of Policies,” a written document the Saudi government sent to the US government, Saudi Arabia said it would “guarantee and protect the right to private worship for all, including non-Muslims who gather in homes for religious practice,” and “ensure that members of the [religious police] do not detain or conduct investigations of suspects, implement punishment, [or] violate the sanctity of private homes.” In this document, the government also said it would investigate any infringements of these policies. Public worship of any religion other than Islam remains prohibited in the kingdom.

“Saudi authorities have broken their promises to respect other faiths,” Wilcke said. “Men and women of other faiths have nowhere to worship in Saudi Arabia if even their private homes are no longer safe.”

The Arab Charter of Human Rights, to which Saudi Arabia is a state party, guarantees “[t]he freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs or to perform religious observances, either alone or in community with others,” and prohibits “arbitrary arrest.”

Saudi Arabia has no codified criminal law or other law that defines “illicit mingling.” In 2006, Shaikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith, the president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the religious police, told Human Rights Watch in an interview in Riyadh, “Mingling of the sexes is prohibited in public, and permitted in private unless it is for the purpose of corruption.”

Human Rights Watch called on the Saudi authorities to release the 35 Ethiopian men and women immediately if there is no evidence to charge them with offenses that are recognizably criminal under international norms. Saudi authorities should also investigate their allegations of physical and sexual abuse and, if warranted, compensate them for arbitrary arrest and any mistreatment they endured, and to hold accountable any officials found to be responsible for these acts.

Human Rights Watch also called on the authorities to allow members of the group who fear persecution in Ethiopia to lodge asylum claims with the UN Refugee Agency.

Here is the Commission’s summary of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia:

“During the reporting period, systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom continued in Saudi Arabia despite improvements. Almost 10 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the Saudi government has failed to implement a number of promised reforms related to religious practice and tolerance. The Saudi government persists in banning all forms of public religious expression other than that of the government’s own interpretation of one school of Sunni Islam; prohibits churches, synagogues, temples, and other non-Muslim places of worship; uses in its schools and posts online state textbooks that continue to espouse intolerance and incite violence; and periodically interferes with private religious practice. Ismaili Muslims continue to suffer repression on account of their religious identity and there have been numerous arrests and detentions of Shi’a Muslim dissidents, in part as a result of increasing regional unrest. Members of the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice (CPVPV) continue to commit abuses, although their public presence has diminished slightly and the number of reported incidents of abuse has decreased in some parts of the country. In addition, the government continues to be involved in supporting activities globally that promote an extremist ideology, and in some cases, violence toward non-Muslims and disfavored Muslims.

USCIRF again recommends in 2011 that Saudi Arabia be designated as a “country of particular concern”, or CPC. Although so designated by the State Department since 2004, an indefinite waiver on taking any action in consequence of the CPC designation has been in place since 2006.

USCIRF traveled to Saudi Arabia in January/February 2011 to assess the Saudi government’s progress in advancing freedom of religion or belief. Despite King Abdullah undertaking some limited reform measures and promoting inter-religious dialogue in international fora, there has been little progress nearly five years after the State Department publicly announced that, as a result of bilateral discussions, the Saudi government had confirmed that it would advance specific policies with the aim of improving religious freedom conditions. During USCIRF’s visit, Saudi officials often cited national security concerns as grounds for cracking down on minorities and dissidents; however, in some cases, such explanations served as a pretext to engage in an array of severe violations of freedom of religion or belief. USCIRF continues to find that full implementation by the Saudi government of the July 2006 policies would diminish some of its institutionalized abusive practices.”

Full report, including a more in depth analysis of Saudi Arabia and other countries, here.