HRW Slams Saudi Regime for Holding Dissidents Incommunicado
RIYADH (Press TV) – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has rebuked Saudi authorities for denying imprisoned human rights activists and pro-democracy campaigners contact with their family members and lawyers for months.
"Saudi authorities appear intent on making certain detainees and their loved ones suffer even further by denying them the ability to hear each other’s voices and know for certain they are OK,” Michael Page, the deputy director of the HRW’s Middle East and North Africa division, said on Sunday.
"All prisoners should be allowed unfettered communication with their families and the world outside their prison cells, but especially so during these trying times.”
Family members of the leading rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul told the New York-based organization that authorities finally allowed her parents to visit on August 31, after she spent almost three months in incommunicado detention.
They said she had gone on hunger strike six days before the visit after learning that some other detainees had been allowed to call their families.
Hathloul was among more than a dozen activists arrested in May 2018, and held on suspicion of harming Saudi Arabia’s interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad.
At the time, international rights groups reported the detention of prominent female activists among the detainees, who had previously campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the kingdom’s male guardianship system.
Some were later released, but activists have said several of the women were held in solitary confinement for months and faced torture and sexual harassment.
Saudi Arabia overturned the world’s only ban on female motorists on June 24, 2018. The lifting of the prohibition followed a sweeping crackdown on prominent women’s rights activists, who had staunchly advocated for the right to drive.
Lawyers representing former Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef (MBN), also maintain that the 61-year-old prominent member of the House of Saud has been detained without charge since his arrest in March, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
They noted that the prince has been denied visits with family members and his personal doctor since his arrest.
The lawyers argued they do not know whether MBN has received treatment for his diabetes, stressing that there are serious concerns about his well-being and health.
Bin Nayef became assistant interior minister in 1999 and succeeded his father as interior minister in 2012 following his death.
He was named crown prince after King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud acceded to power in 2015, before being replaced by Mohammed bin Salman in 2017.
Since his ouster, bin Nayef has effectively been under house arrest and prevented from leaving the kingdom.
In March, he was arrested as part of a renewed purge of royal family members over an alleged coup attempt to unseat King Salman and his son.
A family member of another prominent women’s rights campaigner also told HRW that they have not received phone calls from their detained relative in over two months.
"Saudi authorities appear intent on making certain detainees and their loved ones suffer even further by denying them the ability to hear each other’s voices and know for certain they are OK,” Michael Page, the deputy director of the HRW’s Middle East and North Africa division, said on Sunday.
"All prisoners should be allowed unfettered communication with their families and the world outside their prison cells, but especially so during these trying times.”
Family members of the leading rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul told the New York-based organization that authorities finally allowed her parents to visit on August 31, after she spent almost three months in incommunicado detention.
They said she had gone on hunger strike six days before the visit after learning that some other detainees had been allowed to call their families.
Hathloul was among more than a dozen activists arrested in May 2018, and held on suspicion of harming Saudi Arabia’s interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad.
At the time, international rights groups reported the detention of prominent female activists among the detainees, who had previously campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the kingdom’s male guardianship system.
Some were later released, but activists have said several of the women were held in solitary confinement for months and faced torture and sexual harassment.
Saudi Arabia overturned the world’s only ban on female motorists on June 24, 2018. The lifting of the prohibition followed a sweeping crackdown on prominent women’s rights activists, who had staunchly advocated for the right to drive.
Lawyers representing former Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef (MBN), also maintain that the 61-year-old prominent member of the House of Saud has been detained without charge since his arrest in March, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
They noted that the prince has been denied visits with family members and his personal doctor since his arrest.
The lawyers argued they do not know whether MBN has received treatment for his diabetes, stressing that there are serious concerns about his well-being and health.
Bin Nayef became assistant interior minister in 1999 and succeeded his father as interior minister in 2012 following his death.
He was named crown prince after King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud acceded to power in 2015, before being replaced by Mohammed bin Salman in 2017.
Since his ouster, bin Nayef has effectively been under house arrest and prevented from leaving the kingdom.
In March, he was arrested as part of a renewed purge of royal family members over an alleged coup attempt to unseat King Salman and his son.
A family member of another prominent women’s rights campaigner also told HRW that they have not received phone calls from their detained relative in over two months.