Alkarama welcomes the release, on 9 February 2016, of Yemeni national Awad Al Hayki, who had been arbitrarily detained in Saudi Arabia for over five years. Extradited to Saudi Arabia from Qatar on 18 October 2010, Al Hayki was severely tortured in the Al Qasim Prison, where he was detained for almost a year in solitary confinement without being able to communicate with his family. Held for over two years without charges, Al Hayki was first presented to court in 2013, after Alkarama sent his case to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (SRT) on 13 March 2013. In 2014, after two hearings, the judges decided not to charge him; nevertheless, he remained in prison until February 2016.
To protest against his arbitrary detention, Al Hayki started a hunger strike in late 2014, which led to a severe deterioration of his health. In response to his hunger strike, the Saudi authorities transferred Al Hayki to a hospital, where he was forced-fed, despite the fact that the SRT stated, in October 2013, that "it is not acceptable to use threats of force-feeding or other types of physical or psychological coercion against individuals who have opted for the extreme recourse of a hunger strike."
After his release, Al Hayki was immediately deported to Yemen, from where he contacted Alkarama to confirm his release saying "I was freed from the Saudi Ministry of Interior, but without any compensation, despite the five years and several months I spent in their prisons, being subjected to physical and psychological torture. During these five years, my family was deprived of the main provider, resulting in numerous debts that we must now deal with." While Alkarama welcomes Al Hayki's release, we remain concerned over the numerous cases of torture and arbitrary detention that remain unsolved in the country, as well as over the complete lack of compensation offered to victims of human rights violations.
Alkarama also recalls that on 22 and 25 April 2016, Saudi Arabia will be reviewed for the first time by the UN Committee against Torture (CAT), which will assess the country's compliance with its obligations under the Convention against Torture Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT). In view of this review, Alkarama will provide the UN experts with an extensive report on the systematic practice of torture in the country and will brief the CAT members on its key concerns.
For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).