Mr. Mohamed Razak Bin Abdel Nas Tarhuni is currently 49 years old. He was living legally in Medina under a foreign permanent residency. He holds a doctorate in religious studies and is known in the literary world.
He was a practicing teacher in a public Saudi institution, in addition to serving as an educational consultant. He was an active participant on an internet forum frequented by a large audience of students from the Arab world.
He was arrested by the Saudi intelligence services on 2 November 2006 (now 28 months previous) in Medina without a warrant or a reason for the arrest.
The intelligence official who took his statement was contented to inform him that, from his position, he did not hold him criminally responsible, but rather he had been arrested at the request of the United States because of the ideas he had expressed about it.
Tarhuni remained a prisoner in solitary confinement for several weeks and was then transferred to a prison where he is currently being held.
Since his arrest his family made several attempts to know, above all, where he is detained and the reasons why he was arrested.
He was allowed to visit family members in prison only after several weeks.
It is clear, in the light of this, that Mr Tarhuni has never appeared before any judicial body, nor had any formal charges against him. Since his arrest, he has been prevented from the possibility of a legal challenge as to the legality of his arrest.
Under these circumstances he cannot gain access to a lawyer despite repeated requests to the prison's administration.
Accordingly, it is clear that Mr. Tarhuni has been arbitrarily deprived of his liberty. His detention is incongruent with the current standards of Saudi domestic law and those of the standards set forn in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.