Mubarak Bin Said Ben Zaïr and Jihad Abdulkarim Al-Khodr, both sons of prominent Saudi human rights activists, were amongst those arrested during peaceful protests outside the Interior Ministry in Riyadh on 20 March 2011. Demonstrators were calling for the release of thousands of longstanding prisons held in Saudi prisons without charge or trial. The two men remain in custody despite not having been charged.
Alkarama submitted their cases on 8 April 2011, as part of an urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and the protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
Mubarak Bin Said Ben Zaïr, 45, is a professor at Alimmam Mohammad Bin Saud University. He has been recently campaigning for the release of his brother, Saad Ben Zaïr, and father, Professor Said Ben Zaïr, both of whom have been imprisoned for several years without charge or trial. Sources alleged that their imprisonment is directly linked to their human rights work.
On the morning of 20 March 2011, Mubarak Ben Zaïr was arrested in his car by Saudi intelligence services on Al-Malek Fahed St., while on his way to the Ministry of Interior where the sit-in was taking place. Reports confirmed that 2000 security officers and nearly 200 police vehicles were stationed outside the Ministry. Mubarak Ben Zaïr was joining protestors following an interview with Saudi Interior Minister, Emir Mohamed Ben Nayef, and was hoping to make a public statement demanding the release of both his father and brother.
Alkarama received a copy of a letter written by Dr Mubarak Ben Zaïr from inside prison, in which he describes the horrid living conditions. On his first day of detention, he was shackled, blindfolded and continuously insulted, before being put in solitary confinement, in a tiny cell, unable to contact his family or a lawyer. In the letter, he asks NGOs to advocate on his behalf and on behalf of all prisoners in Saudi Arabia.
Jihad Abdulkarim Al Khodr, 17, was arrested on 20 March 2011 outside the Interior Ministry during a peaceful sit-in for the families of arbitrary detainees in Saudi Arabia. He is the son of Dr. Abdelkarim Al-Khodr, a Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence and founding member of the Association for Civil and Political Rights in Saudi Arabia. Jihad lives with his family in Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
Jihad's family is frequently targeted by the intelligence services due to Dr Abdelkarim Al-Khodr's human rights work.
Jihad's brother, Thamer Al-Khodr, was arrested on 3 March 2010 by Saudi Saudi intelligence services and is still detained without any charge or trial. Alkarama sent his case tot he UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on 7 February 2010 and to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders on 12 March 2010 sent.
Eyewitnesses have claimed that more than a dozen people were arrested during protests, many of whom are still in custody. Protests are somewhat of a taboo in Saudi Arabia, where public demonstrations are banned.
The Saudi security forces responsible for the arrests during the sit-in, used excessive force against peaceful demonstrators and carried out warrantless arrests.
It is evident that the above-mentioned individuals have been arbitrarily arrested for having exercised their right to the freedom of expression and assembly in violation of article 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.