In Saudi Arabia, the only human rights organization authorized by the government should defend the rights of the kingdom’s peaceful political reformers, Human Rights Watch said today.
Three reformers arrested in March—Ali al-Doumani, Dr. Matrouk al-Faleh, and Dr. Abdullah al-Hamed—are still imprisoned and reportedly facing trial. In a letter made public today, Human Rights Watch urged the National Human Rights Organization to provide information about the specific charges against them and the legal status of their cases.
“When this organization was launched in March, its leaders said that it was independent of the government,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “Given what’s been happening to some of the most respected and outspoken political activists in Saudi Arabia, it’s time to hear from these human rights advocates.”
“We continue to document serious flaws in Saudi Arabia’s justice system, including the marked lack of transparency,” said Whitson. “These men should not be put on trial in the first place, but if they are, the proceedings should be prompt, open and fair.”
Some of the reformers who were arrested in March and subsequently released have reportedly been banned from speaking to the press and traveling abroad. Human Rights Watch asked the National Human Rights Organization to investigate and report on restrictions of freedom of expression and freedom of movement that the ministry of interior has imposed on peaceful Saudi citizens, including the confiscation of their passports and prohibiting them from traveling abroad.
Human Rights Watch also noted in its letter that the Saudi human rights group said that it would cooperate with international human rights organizations. Human Rights Watch pointed out that its written request for a meeting in Saudi Arabia with members of the organization, sent earlier this year, went unanswered.
“We remain hopeful that Dr. Obaid and his colleagues will extend an invitation to Human Rights Watch to visit Riyadh,” Whitson concluded. “There should be ample common ground for productive dialogue between our organizations.”
