V. The AftermathTortureHuman Rights Watch has spoken in detail with 13 persons arrested in the wake of the Holiday Inn events. Every one of the people we spoke with had been detained by the mabahith and tortured. Victims related various torture techniques including beatings, electric shock, stress positions, and sleep deprivation. Almost all considered sleep deprivation, lasting up to one week, to have been the most painful experience. Hasan, the customs official, told Human Rights Watch that he and others were deprived of sleep for two days. Every two hours, they would ask us to kneel, then squat, then stand, he said. Kneeling was hard because of the foot chains pressing between the heels and my lower body.78 Badi gave this account:
Another man, `Abbas, said that interrogators tied his legs to a wooden pole then started beating him to make him confess, and, if he didnt, subjected him to electric shock.80 According to Kadhim, the student, Ismaili leaders complained to Crown Prince Abdullah about the arrests and torture, and about two months after the events the crown prince directed the mabahith to stop the interrogations.81 The led to a number of the arrested being freed, or transferred to regular police detention, but did not mean the arrests stopped. An investigative team was brought in from Riyadh. In early 2001 the security forces took a group of up to 70 detainees to Riyadh and imprisoned them in al-Hair mabahith prison, where the interrogation and torture continued (most detainees were put first in solitary confinement before being transferred to communal cells).82 Some of them were then presented in groups of 10, without notice or legal representation, before a judge or panel of judges for secret trial at which all were convicted (see below), and others appear to have been convicted without even that formality.83 Prior to the court sessions, former detainees said, interrogators in Riyadh tortured them to force them to sign confessions. Hasan described to Human Rights Watch how he came to confess: The torture started at 2:30 a.m. Every 30 minutes, a soldier comes and knocks and says cleansing time, then they come and cuff you, blindfold you, and walk you to a different room. There, they chained one leg, bent behind my body, they extended both arms as high as possible, with one foot touching the ground. I had to hang like this for five to six hours. Then they began to beat me with a stick and cables. After one month they brought a witness, a Najrani I knew, who said he saw me in the Mansura. I continued to deny this for one hour. Then even the director came with a cable and beat me. He said all the others from Najran have confessed. I confessed that I was at the Mansura with a Kalashnikov. After that, I answered the interrogators questions the way he wanted for three days. I was forced to fingerprint the interrogation [statement].84 Kadhim related a similar account of how interrogators extracted his confession:
His interrogator then took him to a judge, at 1 a.m., to authenticate his confession, but he told the judge about the torture. The judge told him not to write anything that he did not do, and went away. I went back to the mabahith, he continued. I wrote another set of words. They made me stand for one day. [My] interrogators the next day began to beat me, and filled in new answers for me: Now, I and [another person] were supposed to have fired in the air.86 Ahmad told a similar tale of torture:
Salih recounted his torture and interrogation:
Karim, the policeman, told Human Rights Watch,
`Aqil recounted his experience:
Secret TrialsAfter some months in al-Hair prison, some prisoners were subjected to secret tribunals. The Najran mabahith official in charge of the investigations, Ali Arfiji, was present in Riyadh as a prosecutor. Defendants received no prior notice of the proceedings or the precise charges against them, they did not have the opportunity to consult or appoint legal counsel, and they did not have the opportunity to appeal their convictions and sentences. Some were even oblivious to having been tried, and learned of their sentences from their jailers. The Riyadh court sentenced 17 Ismailis to death, and around 65 to life in prison. Defendants did not receive copies of their verdicts. Hasan, the customs official, told Human Rights Watch about his trial experience:
Kadhim, the student, gave this account:
Salih, the engineer, recalled his trial and sentencing:
Ahmad gave this account of how he learned of his sentence, although he had never been to a court:
`Aqil told his story:
A series of royal pardons commuted the death sentences to prison terms and also reduced the lengths of prison sentences, with 10 years the longest remaining sentence. During his visit to Najran in October 2006, King Abdullah issued the most recent pardon, releasing 10 of the 17 initially sentenced to death from prison. The remaining seven are serving the last two years of their 10-year sentence. Firings and Forced TransfersLocal authorities, with the coordination of the central government, also forced at least 449 Ismaili state employees to quit or to take up positions outside the region, often in parts of the kingdom furthest away from Najran. Many resigned. Others were fired without the option of relocating. King Abdullah has not taken any remedial action to allow fired or relocated workers to return to their jobs in Najran. In a petition to then-Crown Prince Abdullah written around 2003, Ismaili shaikhs complained of the transfer of employees from the region outside it as well as a lack of employment of persons from the region and their racist treatment, and imputing empty charges against some of them in order to fire them from their work.98 One of those fired was the Ismaili mabahith officer described in Chapter IV, above, who was arrested and held for eight-and-a-half months for not contributing to the round up of participants in the Holiday Inn events. According to the mans relative interviewed by Human Rights Watch, despite a long record of service the officer was fired immediately after being let out of detention.99 Karim, the policeman who had been jumped, blindfolded, and tied up by colleagues in the immediate aftermath of the Holiday Inn events, simply for being Ismaili, and was then tortured in mabahith custody (see Chapters IV and V), kept his job after his time in detention but was transferred out of Najran. He told Human Rights Watch in December 2006:
Another Ismaili affected by transfer was Muqtada, a border guard. He told Human Rights Watch:
Badi, the hospital worker arrested from his workplace the day after the Holiday Inn events (see above), was told on the day he went back to work after getting out of detention that he was being transferred:
An Ismaili who studied the transfers told Human Rights Watch:
Hasan, the customs official jailed for participating in the Holiday Inn events, told Human Rights Watch that when he got out of prison he had to surrender his passport. I dont know how long I am banned from traveling, he said. I was fired from work. Before the verdict was issued, I got half my salary, 1,000 riyal. After the verdict, I got a letter firing me from my job at customs. Now I do not work and do not have the capital to start a company.104 Former prisoner Ahmad said, The day I got out [of prison], I was taken to the mabahith. There, they told me I was banned from public employment. It was 18/1/1426 [February 27, 2005]. A separate piece of paper said I was also banned from travel abroad for two years.105 Those who were students at the time of their arrests were unable to complete their studies after their release from prison. Sahir told Human Rights Watch:
Abu Ghaith, Fadil, and `Aqil, students at King Khalid University in Abha at the time, were unable to resume their studies after they were interrupted by prison terms.107 King Abdullah pardoned Khadim during his visit to Najran in October 2006. However, the mabahith imposed a two-year foreign travel ban on him and prohibited him from attending any public celebrations. When Kadhim wanted to resume his studies in physical education at King Khalid University in Abha, the university turned him down, because he had surpassed the legal timeframe allowed for suspending studies.108 He had needed just nine more credit hours to graduate.109 Arrests for Speaking OutSaudi authorities largely succeeded in their efforts to keep the details of events leading up to the Holiday Inn clash and its aftermath from public scrutiny both inside the kingdom and abroad. There has yet to be a full accounting. Only recently has information slowly emerged as the authorities released prisoners from that period and groups of Ismaili elders and intellectuals petitioned the king, prompting the two Saudi human rights institutionsthe National Society for Human Rights and the Human Rights Commissionto look into their complaints.110 In addition to real and purported participants in the events of April 23-24, 2000, Saudi authorities imprisoned, with and without trials, those who dared to speak publicly about the events, as well as about official discrimination, suppression of their religious practices, arbitrary arrests, and torture. The mabahith arrested Amin a year-and-a-half after he had alerted an Arab news channel about the Holiday Inn events on the day they took place, although Amin did so from a town hundreds of kilometers away from Najran. He told Human Rights Watch that in mabahith detention:
The prosecutor brought charges against Amin for four offenses: 1) calling Al Jazeera, 2) disobedience to the ruler, 3) disparaging the reputation of the kingdom abroad, 4) and a poem he wrote.112 His prisoner card cited secret security charges as the reason for his imprisonment.113 Following his conviction, the judge transferred him to the General Prison. His father was able to secure his release after he had served three years of his seven-year sentence.114 The mabahith arrested Husain on December 24, 2003, from his office and confiscated his computer.115 After spending seven months in solitary confinement, he and two others, Nabil, and Shibli, were tried in late July 2004 on charges of belonging to [web] forums engaged in violating security and damaging the nation. Their sentences were two years in prison and 750 lashes each.116 Husain told Human Rights Watch that in court:
Almost a year-and-half after the Holiday Inn events in Najran, the news of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York and Washington DC, and the high proportion of Saudi citizens among those who carried out the final attack, prompted the government to invite more foreign journalists to visit the kingdom. A reporter for the Wall Street Journal, James Dorsey, after several months reporting on a variety of topics in the kingdom, visited Najran and heard first-hand from Ismailis about the Holiday Inn events as well as their concerns about official discrimination. In his January 9, 2002 article on Najran, Dorsey wrote:
Dorsey also cited a local official of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), the religious police, as saying that [Ismailis] are infidels because they do not follow the Sunna [example of the Prophet Muhammad] They dont believe that the Quran is complete and they hate the Sunnis.119 Following publication of Dorseys article, the Saudi mabahith arrested two of his sources. Shaikh Ahmad bin Turki Al Sab, whom Dorsey quoted in the article, was arrested on January 15, 2002. Al Sab claims that he was subjected to unacceptable treatment upon arrest, including beatings all over his body. A medical record three weeks after his arrest by a doctor at King Khalid Hospital in Najran noted that Al Sab vomited blood on February 9, 2002 and had an inflamed esophagus and an inflammation of the stomach. The doctor wrote that he considered Al Sab unfit for flogging at the present time.120 A court sentenced Al Sab to seven years in prison and hundreds of lashes, but the authorities released him prior to the end of his sentence.121 Another source for Dorseys article told Human Rights Watch that he was arrested in another city, flown to Najran, and kept for four months in the mabahith there before one day, they just said, Youre free to go. While in detention, he said, officials only asked him about the article while torturing him:
The authorities also arrested Murad and sentenced him to 18 months in prison and 500 lashes for his contact with the Wall Street Journal reporter.123 A number of Ismaili elders went to see Crown Prince Abdullah after news emerged of the death sentences for 17 Ismailis implicated in the Holiday Inn events (see above). The Ministry of Interior had all petitioners arrested, thrown in prison for four months, and flogged with 60 lashes. Even the Sudanese employee of the print shop that had prepared the petition to Crown-prince Abdullah and his assistant was arrested and then deported.124 In another case, Saudi border guards arrested a fellow border guard, an Ismaili of the Harith tribe within a year of the Holiday Inn events. A court sentenced him to three years in prison for having remarked to a colleague in conversation that Ismailis would take revenge if those arrested after the Holiday Inn events were executed.125 78 Human Rights Watch interview with Hasan, Najran, December 13, 2006. 79 Human Rights Watch interview with Badi, Manama, July 6, 2006. 80 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with `Abbas, Najran, June 23, 2006. 81 Human Rights Watch interview with Kadhim, Najran, December 14, 2006. 82 Human Rights Watch interview with Hasan, Najran, December 13, 2006. 83 Human Rights Watch separate interviews with Ahmad, `Aqil, and Karim, Najran, December 13, 2006; and email communication from Hisham to Human Rights Watch, August 22, 2007. 84 Human Rights Watch interview with Hasan, Najran, December 13, 2006. 85 Human Rights Watch interview with Kadhim, Najran, December 14, 2006. 86 Ibid. 87 Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmad, Najran, December 13, 2006. 88 Human Rights Watch interview with Salih, Najran, December 14, 2006. 89 Human Rights Watch interview with Karim, Najran, December 13, 2006. 90 Human Rights Watch interview with `Aqil, Najran, December 13, 2006. 91 Human Rights Watch interview with Hasan, Najran, December 13, 2006. 92 Ali Arfiji was the Najran mabahith investigator and prosecutor in the Holiday Inn case. 93 The Expedited, or Summary, Court, is one of two courts of first instance in Saudi Arabia. The Greater, or General, Court, deals with certain crimes and with civil matters where the amount in dispute is greater than SAR 20,000. 94 Human Rights Watch interview with Kadhim, Najran, December 14, 2006. Kadhims account of having previously made two different confessions under torture is given above. 95 Human Rights Watch interview with Salih, Najran, December 14, 2006. 96 Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmad, Najran, December 13, 2006. 97 Human Rights Watch interview with `Aqil, Najran, December 13, 2006 98 First Petition to Deputy Prime Minister and Crown Prince Abdullah, 13 Ismaili Shaikhs, undated. 99 Human Rights Watch interview with Hamid, Manama, July 6, 2006. 100 Human Rights Watch interview with Karim, Najran, December 13, 2006. 101 Human Rights Watch interview with Muqtada, Najran, December 13, 2006. 102 Human Rights Watch interview with Badi, Manama, July 6, 2006. 103 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Husain, Najran, July 6, 2006. 104 Human Rights Watch interview with Hasan, Najran, December 13, 2006. 105 Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmad, Najran, December 13, 2006. 106 Human Rights Watch interview with Sahir, Riyadh, November 30, 2006. 107 Human Rights Watch interview with Fadil, Riyadh, November 30, 2006. 108 Dr. Said Muhammad Rifa, dean of admissions, King Khalid University, Statement about [name withheld], undated. 109 Human Rights Watch interview with Kadhim, Najran, December 14, 2006. 110 The National Society for Human Rights was formed in 2004 as a government initiative by members of the appointed Shura Council. King Fahd gave the Society SAR 100 million and real estate from his personal wealth. The Society has grown increasingly vociferous and critical over the past years. The Human Rights Commission, in existence since 2005, is a government body that visits prisons, and conveys concerns and individual complaints to concerned government ministries privately. 111 Human Rights Watch interview with Amin, Najran, December 14, 2006. 112 Ibid.. 113 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Interior, Public Security, General Administration of Prisons, Temporary Inmate Card No. (كرت نزيل مؤقت رقم), November 1, 2001 (14/8/1422). 114 Human Rights Watch interview with Amin, Najran, December 14, 2006. 115 Arrest of Ismailis Still Continues in Najran, Saudi News Agency (private, opposition agency), December 25, 2003, http://www.rasid.com/artc.php?id=612&hl= (accessed July 17, 2006). 116 Najran: Ismailis arrested on charges of Internet writing, Al-Rasid News Network, August 1, 2004, http://www.okhdood.com/index.php?act=artc&id=310&hl= (accessed July 17, 2006). 117 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Husain, Najran, July 6, 2006. Ali Al Ahmed is a Saudi Shia from the Eastern Province who fled to the US where he received asylum in 1999. His organization, the Gulf Institute, regularly criticizes Saudi policies and practices. 118 James M. Dorsey, Saudi Tribe Sees the War as a Chance to Win Some Rights Aggrieved Shiites Hope Scrutiny of Monarchy Will Help Their Struggle, The Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2002. 119 Ibid. 120 King Khalid Hospital Director Dr. Muhammad bin Salim al-Saqur, Letter to the Director of the Branch of General Prisons in Najran containing the Medical Report for Ahmad Turki Al Sab, July 13, 2002. The examination took place on July 3, 2002. 121 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews with Shaikh Ahmad bin Turki Al Sab, Najran, June 15 and July 8, 2006, and interview in person, Najran, December 13, 2006. 122 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Imam, Najran, Feburary 14, 2008. 123 Daniel, A Summary of Case of Najran and the Suffering of its People, www.wadi3.com. 124 Email communication from Hisham to Human Rights Watch, August 22, 2007. 125 Email communication from Ismaili living in the Eastern Province, IEP1, to Human Rights Watch, July 14, 2006. |