On Monday, human rights organizations called on the Saudi authorities to reveal the health condition of the Saudi activist, Muhammad al-Qahtani, who has been imprisoned for years, on charges including “conspiracy against the state.”
The organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights First, the International Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the Human Rights Foundation, said in statement It published, on Monday, that Al-Qahtani, the co-founder of the (dissolved) Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, had been “detained incommunicado for six months,” and also called for “the immediate and unconditional release of four members of the association who remain arbitrarily detained.”
Saudi Arabia dissolved the association in 2013, then Al-Qahtani was sentenced, in the same year, to 10 years in prison on charges of plotting against state security and incitement to chaos and disobedience, to be followed by a travel ban for an equal period.
Last November, the United Nations rapporteur in charge of monitoring the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, expressed her concern about the fate of the activist, saying that his family had lost contact with him since October 23, 2022, after filing a complaint about “assaults targeting him from other prisoners.” .
The expert confirmed that the Saudi authorities accused him of providing false information to foreign parties, including the United Nations.
The Saudi activist protested several times against his ill-treatment in Al-Ha’ir prison in Riyadh, according to the official.
About six months after the last contact with Al-Qahtani, the associations that signed the new statement said that since then he has been “isolated from the world.”
The organizations accused the Saudi authorities of “failing” to release him, after a full sentence had expired, in November 2022, but since October 24, “the Saudi authorities have deprived him of any contact with his family and have continued to detain him incommunicado.”
His family, who tried to inquire about him inside Sijar al-Ha’ir “to no avail,” believes that he “entered a hunger strike and his health deteriorated greatly,” which puts his life in imminent danger.
The statement called on the authorities to reveal the fate and whereabouts of al-Qahtani, to allow his family to contact him immediately, and to provide him with any medical care he may need.
Four other members of the dissolved association are still in prison “in retaliation for their peaceful activity,” according to human rights groups, which called for the release of Al-Qahtani and other members of the association “who were arbitrarily arrested simply for their peaceful activity.”
2023-04-24 15:06:25
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