Document #1340593
AI – Amnesty International (Author)
A UN Working Group has determined that the Saudi Arabian authorities have arbitrarily detained nine peaceful activists in blatant violation of international law, in an Opinion that sets out damning evidence of Saudi Arabia’s utter disregard for human rights, said Amnesty International today.
Amnesty International has repeatedly called for the immediate and unconditional release of all nine activists, whom it considers prisoners of conscience. They include six founding members of a key human rights organization, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), as well as the imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi, his lawyer and human rights defender Waleed Abu al-Khair, and Fadhel al-Manasif of the now disbanded Adala Center for Human Rights.
“The UN Working Group’s Opinion leaves no shred of doubt - the Saudi Arabian authorities are consistently abusing the country’s vague laws to deprive human rights defenders and others of their liberty, and deny them their basic right to freedoms of expression, association and assembly,” said James Lynch, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
The Opinion adopted by the Working Group found that all nine activists were arbitrarily detained and deprived of liberty in contravention of several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These articles set out the prohibition of arbitrary detention, the right to fair trial, and the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and of peaceful assembly and association. This conclusion is particularly alarming given Saudi Arabia’s commitments as a member of the UN Humans Rights Council to uphold the highest standards of human rights.
“As a member of the UN Human Rights Council Saudi Arabia purports to uphold and respect the highest standards of human rights, yet this UN decision provides damning proof of their contempt for human rights and for human rights activism. It also shatters the illusion that they have anything more than the scantest respect for international human rights law and the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly,” said James Lynch.
“Instead of punishing human rights defenders and silencing bloggers and lawyers, Saudi Arabia’s authorities should seek to address the yawning gulf between its dire human rights record and its responsibilities as a member of the UN Human Rights Council.”
Saudi Arabia’s authorities have pursued a vicious crackdown on peaceful activists in what the Working Group calls “a reprisal for their work of protecting and defending human rights” and “grave and systematic violations of the norms related to the right to fair trial.”
The Working Group called upon the Saudi Arabian authorities “without delay, to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation”, namely “the immediate release of the detainees and the provision of the reparation for the harm caused by the grievances.”
The Working Group also urged the Saudi Arabian authorities to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The nine activists arbitrarily detained include:
© Amnesty International