Suleiman Al Ayed, 29 year-old Saudi national, has been imprisoned in Al-Hayer prison, in Riyadh, for eight years. For five years, he was detained without any legal proceedings, held in solitary confinement in the dark and severely tortured. Today, Mr Al Ayed's psychological and physical condition is seriously alarming, yet the Saudi authorities have continuously refused to give him access to medical care.
On 14 October 2003, Suleiman Al Ayed was arrested in Yemen before being deported to Saudi Arabia seven months later on 19 May 2004.
Mr Ali bin Abdullah bin Ali al-Zamel, a brother of a prisoner in al-Hayer, sent an appeal letter to King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and members of the Saudi ruling class, to the High Commissioner for Human Rights and to local human rights organisations, asking them all to intervene in order to protect the prisoners of al-Hayer who have been in a sit-in for many weeks, and to respond to their legitimate demands which Alkarama had espoused, particularly releasing prisoners of arbitrary detentions which fill the Kingdom's prisons.
A group of Saudi human rights activists wrote a letter on 5 August 2012 to King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, and Interior Minister Prince Ahmad Bin Abdulaziz, asking them to release Khaled bin Suleiman Al Omeir and Mohamed bin Salih Al Bjady, two prisoners of conscience, and all other individuals arbitrarily detained in the Kingdom.
Khaled Al-Omeir is one of the most prominent figures in the movement calling for peaceful political reform in Saudi Arabia.
Alkarama has appealed to the United Nations to intervene immediately with the Saudi authorities to interrupt the flogging punishment which to which Ms Najla Yahya Wafa, an Egyptian citizen held in al-Malaz prison in the capital Riyadh, has been subjected. Ms Wafa has already been subjected to a total of 300 lashes, starting on 1 May, and the remaining 200 are to be administered at regular intervals.
Alkarama has received a petition that was sent by more than 500 Saudi women to all Islamic scholars appealing for their support in demanding the release their relatives: "We, women of Saudi Arabia, wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of detainees in the Saudi political prisons, appeal to you since most of the scholars and preachers of Saudi Arabia would not support us either because they obey or because they fear the Saudi ministry of the interior.
Alkarama has been continuously receiving reports for more than a week regarding riots by detainees in al-Hayer prison in Riyadh against their poor prison conditions and the arbitrary nature of their detention. After news of the riot, came calls for help as the authorities cracked down on the riot and blocked all news from the families of detainees.
Hichem Matri, a 32-year old Franco-Tunisia businessman, remains detained in a Saudi prison despite the UN finding his detention arbitrary. Currently on hunger strike in protest of his mistreatment, and having already lost 30 kg, his health hangs in the balance, while his wife was hospitalized today in France due to the physical and mental exhaustion caused by her husband's absence and detention.
Mr Matri was initially arrested in May 2010, the day before he was supposed to return home to France, alongside his business partner Cherif Al Karoui.
Saudi Arabia was again the subject of an Opinion adopted by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on 2 May 2012, this time regarding four individuals detained for years without any trial or legal proceedings against them. In Opinion 8/2012, the Working Group confirms that all four are detained in violation of both Saudi and international law and calls for their release.
On 18 June 2012, the Riyadh Criminal Court brought charges against prominent Human Rights Defender Dr Mohammad Fahad Al Qahtani, co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA).
The renewed crackdown against human rights defenders and peaceful political activists in Saudi Arabia entered a new round as Dr Abdellah Al Hamed, Professor of contemporary literature and co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was formally charged on Monday, 11 June 2012.
