The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found the detention of Yemeni national Yahya Shaqibel in Saudi Arabia is arbitrary, violating his right to liberty and freedom of religion.
Four years ago, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, eleven human rights activists founded the Saudi association for civil and political rights (ACPRA), an independent human rights organization focusing on the immense issue of arbitrary detention in the kingdom.
Four years ago, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, eleven human rights activists founded the Saudi association for civil and political rights (ACPRA), an independent human rights organization focusing on the immense issue of arbitrary detention in the kingdom. Despite a court order for its dissolution, ACPRA has been determinedly working with families of victims, encouraging them to stand up for their rights and file lawsuits against the Interior Ministry.
Tawfiq Ahmad Ali Al Sabary, a 32 year-old Yemeni national from Dhamar, was arrested while on his way to pilgrimage at Mecca on 11 June 2013 by Saudi police officers without an arrest warrant. He is currently detained in Al Madina prison and has not been charged, nor brought before a judge since his arrest.
Zakaria Mohamed Ali, president of a cultural association in Saudi Arabia, was arrested without a warrant on 20 April 2013 in Riyadh by Saudi intelligence services. Since then, he is illegally detained in Dhaban prison, Jeddah. His crime? Promoting critical thinking and cultural exchange between Saudi Arabia and Japan...
On 20 April 2013, Zakaria Ali, a Somali national, was arrested at Platinum Center, Salah Al Deen Al Ayubi in Riyadh by Saudi intelligence services (Al Mabahith) and taken to Riyadh Prison without any arrest warrant.
Mabrook Al Sai'ari, a 43 year-old Saudi national detained at Najran prison, could be executed in two months. Or not. His fate depends on a family living at the border with Yemen who will use this decisive 'term' to decide whether or not to forgive him for the murder of their beloved one.
karim Al-Khodr, a long-standing Saudi human rights defender, was sentenced to eight years in prison and a 10-year travel ban. Alkarama is deeply concerned by the acts of reprisals against ACPRA human rights defenders, especially those who cooperate with the United Nations.
Yahya Hussein Ahmad Shaqibel, a 33 year-old Yemeni national, was arrested in October 2009 by unidentified Malaysian security forces on demand of Saudi intelligence services (Mabahith) while on a business trip in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was then transferred to Saudi Arabia where he was arrested upon arrival in Riyadh. After almost four years of arbitrary detention, he is now accused of 'khariji' and terrorism and is awaiting his verdict.
Mr Al Shaqibel was born in Saudi Arabia in 1980, and lived there until he moved back to Yemen indefinitely in 2006.
On 10 June, dozens of women and children in the Saudi cities of Al-Jawf, Ha'il, Mecca, Riyadh, Buraydah and other areas came out in a nationwide protest that they named the "Freedom Sit-In".
Alkarama has received information from the families of Yemeni prisoners in Saudi Arabian prisons communications with their loved ones detained in Saudi Arabia has been cut for about a month for reasons that remain unclear.
According to these families, who fear that this severing of communications is a form of re
