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Saudi Arabias secret police (mabahith) keeps a large number of detainees in its own detention centers around the country, often arbitrarily, and largely beyond the reach of the law. This practice is not new.379 The recent growth in the number of detained national security suspects is linked to the series of bombings within Saudi Arabia that commenced in March 2003 and, more importantly, coinciding with the war and ensuing insurgency in neighboring Iraq. Besides potential domestic and international jihadis, national security suspects include political dissidents whose activities reached new heights with a series of petitions for change submitted to then-Crown Prince Abdullah since 2002.
Muhanna al-Falih had spoken publicly in favor of his relative, Dr. Matrook al-Faleh, a prominent advocate for constitutional and political reform arrested on March 16, 2004. The mabahith arrested Muhanna al-Falih on December 13, 2004, and he spent 10 months in detention without charge before being released. Al-Falih told Human Rights Watch that he owed his release to a royal amnesty.380
The mabahith arrested Daud in October 2004 for participating in a public demonstration in Riyadh that the London-based government opponent Sad al-Faqih had called for. Public gatherings in Saudi Arabia are prohibited, and official tolerance for private gatherings is decreasing.381 Daud insisted that a public prosecutor interrogate, charge, and bring him to trial, and demanded access to a lawyer. A former cellmate told Human Rights Watch Dauds demand for a trial may be the reason he is still in mabahith detention, since the prison administration responded harshly to his demands.382
Iman told Human Rights Watch that her husband, Bandar, was arrested on January 30, 2006, at his office in Mekka. She said he was sympathetic to the opposition movement headed by Sad al-Faqih in London. In December 2006 he had gone on hunger strike to demand a trial.383
Sabri has been in the mabahith prison since his arrest in his Riyadh apartment on October 13, 2005. His mother told Human Rights Watch that the mabahith raided their apartment in Juf and took mobile telephones and a computer. She later found out that the reason for Sabris arrest was a commentary he had written on women protesting in front of the mabahith offices in Juf, on an internet site associated with al Qaeda.384
Those who find themselves under arrest by the mabahith suspected of considering, assisting with, planning, or undertaking violent acts may never actually be charged or face trial, and there may never be an independent determination that they are guilty of any offense or have committed any crime. Instead, rather than being faced with evidence of their wrongdoing in the course of a fair trial, they may be told that they are to undergo reeducation. The Ministry of Interior supervises a Consultation Committee that teaches detainees official interpretations of the conditions for armed struggle (jihad) to convince detainees that only jihad declared by the ruler is legitimate, as in Afghanistan in the 1980s, but not in todays Iraq or elsewhere. The problem, from a human rights perspective, is that outside of treatment for illness, there is no lawful ground in international law for detaining a person who has not been convicted, such as in order that they undergo a reeducation program. Such involuntary detentions are always arbitrary. Education programs, while they may form part of a post-conviction regime, cannot be forced upon persons whose guilt has not been established.
The Consultation Committees head, Abd al-Rahman al-Hadlaq, told Human Rights Watch that research on national security prisoners revealed that the root of the problem is ideological.385 His goal was, he said, to want them to love life, not death. To that end, security detainees, including those transferred to Saudi custody from the US detention facility at Guantanamo, undergo between one and three sessions each lasting two to three hours with a cleric and a psychologist, or they enter the larger classroom program in which 20 students spend two months receiving two lectures per day in 10 subjects, such as the meaning of jihad, the status of non-Muslims, declaring a person an infidel (takfir; from kufr, unbelief), and basic psychology, among others. The latter program ends with an examination, and the instructors draw up evaluations and recommendations for the security forces. Al-Hadlaq did not explain how the committee determines who is eligible for this program.
Al-Hadlaq said that graduation from the program and a positive recommendation does not invariably lead to release. On the other hand, many ask to participate, he said, because they know that they wont be released without completing the program. Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs Prince Muhammad bin Nayef told Human Rights Watch in December 2006 that the authorities have released more than 700 persons who had undergone the program.386 Al-Hadlaq said that over 2,000 persons had participated since the start of the program around mid-2004. By December 2007, 1,700 reportedly remained in the program in detention, and 1,500 had been released.387 The success rate, measured as those who no longer consider non-Muslims their enemies, was close to 90 percent, he said.388 Successful completion of the program is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for release. Many detainees who reportedly received commendations from their instructors remain imprisoned.
Prince Muhammad bin Nayef further explained the reasons for taking such a pedagogic rather than legal approach: We have extremists, but we shouldnt make them more extreme. We should defuse them
I want the person to come out of prison with less hate, accepting all nationalities. Maybe you see it from an American point of view where all have to go to court. You see, some of them are from tribes and their tribes may feel insulted if they see their names in a court. Its a rehabilitation center.389
Prince Muhammad and al-Hadlaq acknowledged that innocent persons could be detained. The determination of what activities are potentially harmful and what persons require reeducation in detention is made by the Ministry of Interior, based on evidence they have. There is no independent adjudication on a persons guilt.
Asked if the program distinguished between those who harbored violent thoughtsprotected under freedom of opinion unless expressed to directly and immediately incite acts of violenceand those who planned or carried out acts of violence, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef answered, If you are a takfiri, there is little difference. Judging from some of those detained, apparently no distinction is made between legitimate speech and unlawful instigation of or involvement in acts of violence: Walid al-Sinani, a religious figure who has called the Saudi government and its rule kufr (unbelief) has remained in detention without charge since 1995 and reportedly resisted attempts to change his opinion in an early version of the consultation program. In January 2003, Minister of Interior Prince Nayef bin Abd al-Aziz told Human Rights Watch that Said bin Zuair, a religious academic who at that time had been imprisoned since 1995, remained in detention because he refused to sign a statement confessing to having formed a society with others. Prince Nayef said that others, whose crimes were more serious than Zuairs, had signed confessions and been released without trial.390 The authorities released Zuair later that year. On June 6, 2007, the mabahith rearrested Zuair on suspicion of instigating violence via the internet.391
Al-Hadlaq made a finer distinction, saying, we only detain persons if they act on their opinions, by jihad, financing, or encouraging others to practice jihad by glorifying it. The programs lead psychologist, Dr. Turki al-Otiyan, said, Through the internet, some people do bad things and we have to detain them, because they have a problem in their head.392
One former detainee, Zaid, told Human Rights Watch how the mabahith arrested him in Riyadh based on a commentary he had written on the website of government opponent Sad al-Faqih in London, islah.net (now defunct). His 200-word contribution criticized the Council of Senior Religious Scholars. Zaid said that he participated in the consultation program on two days, describing the teachers as mercenaries. The psychologist wanted clearly to show that I was mentally ill, he said. The shaikhs wanted to show that I was ill-guided in religion. It was all a bit of a joke and didnt change what I thought. Zaid said that he didnt mind the program, but that he was especially glad not to have been sent to court because he didnt want to be sentenced by these harsh Islamist judges to a long sentence. In the end, I got out after 5 months and 15 days, maybe because my father knows Prince Muhammad bin Nayef.393
Security suspects often find themselves detained on allegations of having committed an offense, but are never charged with an actual offense and never have their day in court to prove that the evidence against them is inadequate. In effect, security detainees are often held without trial, on allegations but not evidence.For example, Yazid has been in mabahith custody since December 10, 2004. He underwent the consultation program a long time ago, indicating passage of more months than he could easily remember, and received a good report from the committee, according to his brother, Sultan. His brother said Yazid was accused of wanting to help those going to Iraq for jihad, but that there had been no judicial proceedings.394 According to Sultan, another man, Darwish, asked Yazid to provide a passport for a 17-year-old to travel to Iraq, although Yazid was in no position to comply with his request even if he had wanted to.395
Fathi has been in al-Hairs mabahith prison since about September 2003. His apparent offense was that he had made a telephone call to a neighbor, Harun, whose name appeared two months later in a governmental list of most wanted terrorists.396 A relative said his family petitioned the Ministry of Interior for the release of Fathi, and the Ministry of Interior said that [Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs] Prince Muhammad bin Nayef had ordered speedy trials, but nothing has happened.397
Mutasim has been in the mabahiths Prison 37 in Dammam since his arrest on March 28, 2004. His brother Adib told Human Rights Watch that his family had innocently housed a wanted Bosnian man and the mans pregnant wife and child after some neighbors pleaded with them, saying the man had come for Hajj (pilgrimage) but was unable to return to his country due to his wifes medical complications. Security forces later killed the Bosnian man in Riyadh.398 Despite Prince Muhammad bin Nayefs instructions of November 29, 2005, to refer Mutasim to court, no action has been taken, Adib said. In December 2006 Mutasim went on hunger strike to demand his release or trial.399
Muhammad Salih al-Hamili was arrested on November 19, 2004, at his home after he brought a wanted man to the Buraida hospital, where he is a nurse, for treatment. His wife, Rima Abd al-Aziz al-Juraish, told Human Rights Watch that he is now in Buraidas mabahith prison and that the sheikhs of the Consultation Committee have visited him, but that he has not appeared before a judge. She does not know whether he has been sentenced.400
Several more family members of those currently imprisoned contacted Human Rights Watch, all telling a similar story of prolonged detention without trial. Some family members acknowledged sympathy or involvement with the Iraq insurgency on the part of their husbands or sons, while others protested the innocence of their relatives. All said they despaired of learning why or for how long their relative was being detained.
Suja, a Brazilian, has not seen her Saudi husband, Bashir, since he was arrested on June 17, 2003, from his office in Dammam on the pretext that an injured party to a traffic accident had filed suit against him. Suja, who had left for a family visit to her native Brazil days earlier with their newborn child, said her husband called her in Brazil about every two weeks, although there have been interruptions. She said that the authorities have not charged him with a crime or brought him before a court in over three-and-a-half years. He is stubborn and has a big mouth, Suja told Human Rights Watch. He is not shy about speaking his mind and he told me he will never accept what the religious authorities who visit him in jail try to convince him of. Suja said that her husband, who graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2001 and is religiously observant, was imprisoned for suspected contacts with violent extremists. She added that he has asked for, and been denied, access to legal counsel, although his interrogators frequently promised him that he would be taken to court soon.401
Mabahith detention centers do not appear to be subject to any independent or judicial oversight. Judges and prosecutors do not venture there, Muhsin, a former judge told Human Rights Watch.402 Another former judge, Ismail, shook his head in disbelief when he heard that Hamad Jarba, the head of the Prison Supervision Department of the Bureau for Investigation and Public Prosecutions (the public prosecutors office), had told Human Rights Watch that staff of his department visit all prisons, including mabahith prisons, twice a week to ensure there are no violations of the law, such as torture or excessive delays awaiting trial.403
Family visits take place at the discretion of the detention authorities. A relative told Human Rights Watch that the wife and children of Majid have not been able to see him for over a year. The relative said Majid, who was arrested in Jordan on his return from Afghanistan in 2003 and deported to Saudi Arabia, had recanted his views in meetings with the Consultation Committee.404
Suja told Human Rights Watch that her parents-in-law can usually visit their son every two weeks, but that there have been interruptions.405 Even where visits are possible, they take place in the immediate presence of an armed guard.406 Commonly, no visits are allowed in the first months during interrogation.407
Families of detainees also told Human Rights Watch of their failed efforts to learn of what lies ahead for their loved ones. Ministry of Interior officials, they say, promise an impending release or an imminent transfer to court. More often, families meet a wall of silence in response to their enquiries and petitions for clemency (istirham).408 Nawwafs mother said that she called Ibrahim al-Muhanna, a senior official in the Ministry of Interior, almost every day and that he told her that in the computer there is no problem except that he went to Iraq without telling us.409 Syrian authorities arrested Nawwaf in December 2003 and detained him for five months before deporting him to Saudi Arabia. His mother says the then-17-year-old only spent one week in Iraq before trying to return home. He was detained in al-Hair mabahith prison and then in Juf, where his family home is. Jamila told Human Rights Watch that she had sent over 100 telegrams to Ibrahim al-Muhanna to inquire about the fate of her husband, Karim. The mabahith arrested Karim on October 12, 2005, in Baha, saying he belonged to a deviant group. His wife did not receive a reply.410
Human Rights Watch also spoke to relatives who said their loved ones were serving sentences, implying that they had received a trial, or who said that they had appeared at least once before a judge to confirm statements they had made during interrogation. Nawwafs mother said that early in July 2004, shortly after his arrival in Juf, around 40 days after being deported from Syria to Saudi Arabia, he confirmed statements in front of a judge, but that no further court appearance date was set or had taken place since.411 Husam told Human Rights Watch that he appeared at the Lesser Court in Riyadhs Murabba district five months after his arrest to confirm his statements. About a month later, he said, the judge accused and sentenced me to six months for causing sedition and problems and released him for time served.412 Others, like Banda and Bashir, have gone on hunger strike to demand their prompt release or trial. The Arab Commission for Human Rights reported that on July 8, 2005, a group of prisoners in the mabahith prison in Abha, in the southern Asir province, demanded their prompt release or referral to court, and that on July 19, 30 prisoners in Jufs mabahith prison went on hunger strike demanding that prisoners kept beyond the expiry of their sentences be released and that those in detention for more than one year be tried.413
One distinct group of prisoners whom Saudi authorities never charged or brought to trial are Shia Saudis arrested on suspicion of involvement in attacks on June 25, 1996, in Khobar that killed 19 US military personnel and injured 350 people. Some had been arrested before the attacks, after the discovery of explosives in a car, while others were swept up in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. A federal indictment in the US handed down on June 21, 2001, names the following Saudi persons, among others who remain at large, as being involved in the 1996 Khobar bombings: Mustafa al-Qassab; Salih Ramadhan; Ali al-Marhun; Husain Al Mughis; Mustafa al-Muallim; Al-Sayyid Fadhil al-Ulawi; and Abdullah al-Jarrash. They are all in the mabahith prison in Dammam, after spending up to nine years in al-Hair mabahith prison without charge or trial.
The US indictment for the Khobar bombings also lists another Saudi, Hani al-Sayigh. Canadian authorities arrested al-Sayigh in 1997 and deported him to the US, which in turn deported al-Sayigh to Saudi Arabia on October 11, 1999, prior to the federal prosecutors indictment in 2001. Al-Sayigh has remained detained without trial in Saudi Arabia ever since.414
The mabahith arrested Abd al-Karim Nimr on November 5, 1999. Nimr had returned to Saudi Arabia in 1994 from exile after the current minister of labor, Ghazi al-Qusaibi, reached an agreement with the Shia political opposition abroad and the king promised to release political prisoners, restore travel rights, and curb discriminatory language or practice by officials.415 Despite these assurances, however, the authorities arrested Nimr on his return from exile and conducted a thorough interrogation for seven months, his brother Abdullah Nimr told Human Rights Watch. The interrogation focused on his role in the Hezbollah of the Hijaz, or Saudi Hezbollah, while abroad.416 After his release, Nimr led a quiet life until his arrest in 1999, three years after the Khobar bombings, his brother said. Abdullah al-Nimr told Human Rights Watch that a Ministry of Interior official unofficially told him that Nimrs arrest is connected to the Khobar bombings. Nimr is not listed in the US indictments.417
According to a letter dated December 5, 2004, which Human Rights Watch has reviewed, the Social Affairs Committee of al-Hair mabahith prison paid the equivalent of $5,400 to Nimrs wife apparently for sustenance, noting that he has not been sentenced.418 On November 1, 2004, the family retained Saudi lawyer Sulaiman al-Rashudi as legal counsel. Al-Rashudis efforts, as well as the many letters the family sent to the National Society for Human Rights, the minister and assistant minister of interior, and the king, did not lead to Nimrs indictment or release from prison.419
Not all Shia security detainees linked to the Khobar bombings remained in prison without trial. A brother of Hani al-Sayigh, Muhammad al-Sayigh, told Human Rights Watch that the mabahith arrested him in September 1998 and asked questions mostly about Hani.420 Interrogators said that Muhammad al-Sayigh had carried a Kalashnikov and an M-16 in Lebanon, and about seven months after his arrest, a judge sentenced him to four years in prison and 700 lashes, noting that you are a Shia. Your creed is infidel. If it were up to me, I would sentence you to death, and that Muhammad al-Sayigh had begun to love Iran more and more. The authorities released him after another brother met with Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, assistant minister of interior for security affairs.421
Muhammad Sayigh and another brother we spoke with had not been able to determine whether US officials had visited Hani while in detention in Saudi Arabia, since a mabahith official is present at all times during their meetings and they understood that such questions were off limits. The US never made public the guarantees it claimed to have sought and received from Saudi Arabia, prior to Sayighs deportation in 1999, that he would not be mistreated and would receive a fair trial. The Sayigh brothers told Human Rights Watch that Hani compared his treatment in al-Hair mabahith prison favorably with what he received earlier in the United States or later in Dammams mabahith prison, where the authorities transferred him on April 19, 2005.422 At the time of Sayighs deportation from the US, CNN quoted Interior Minister Prince Nayef as saying that his government had specific evidence and information that confirm the involvement of Al-Sayegh in the unjust terrorist act in the city of Khobar about three years ago.423 In July 2001, shortly after the US indicted Sayigh, the New York Times quoted Prince Nayef as saying that those indicted, including Sayigh, would be tried very soon in a Saudi court.424
Nearly six years later, Saudi Arabia has yet to bring those it arrested in connection with the 1996 Khobar bombings to trial. In a recent development, the authorities granted furlough to Abdullah al-Jarrash in June 2005, and to Ali al-Marhun in September 2006, to attend a family wake before returning them to prison. Assistant Director of Prisons for the Riyadh region Muhammad Sayyid bin Nasir told Human Rights Watch that every prisoner has a right to go on furlough of up to three days for the death, marriage, or severe illness of a close relative.425 In 2005 the decision to move the Shia Khobar bombings suspects from Riyadh to Dammam, granting furlough, and the expectation of an amnesty on the occasion of Crown Prince Abdullahs accession to the throne in August 2005 raised the families hopes that a trial or release were forthcoming.
Unlike their Sunni counterparts, these nine Shia suspected of violent crimes cannot hope that the experts of the Consultation Committee will test their disposition to violence and write them a favorable report, possibly speeding up their release should they find no inclination or plans to violence. Al-Hadlaq told Human Rights Watch that no Shia had participated since the program began in 2003.426 Abdullah Nimr confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the Committee did not visit his brother.427