Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/SaudiArabia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Saudi
Arabia. Some of these links may lead
to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even
false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to
verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Saudi Arabia U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/saudi-arabia/
[accessed 5 August
2021] DISAPPEARANCE In early March
authorities reportedly detained four senior princes: Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, King Salman’s full brother; his son, Prince Nayef bin Ahmed, a former head of army intelligence;
Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, former crown prince and
interior minister; and his younger brother, Prince Nawaf
bin Nayef. The detentions were not announced by the
government, but Reuters reported that the princes were accused of “conducting
contacts with foreign powers to carry out a coup d’etat.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that at the same time, security forces
detained dozens of Interior Ministry officials, senior army officers, and
others suspected of supporting the alleged coup attempt. In August lawyers
representing Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said they
were increasingly concerned about his well-being, alleging that his
whereabouts remained unknown five months after he was detained and stating
that he had not been allowed visits by his personal doctor. Prince Nawaf’s lawyers stated he was released in August, but
there were no updates on the other three as of year’s end. TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Human rights
organizations, the United Nations, and independent third parties noted numerous
reports of torture and mistreatment of detainees by law enforcement officers.
ALQST alleged that authorities continued to use torture in prisons and
interrogation rooms. Amnesty International assessed in a February statement
that one of the most striking failings of the SCC in trials was “its
unquestioning reliance on torture-tainted ‘confessions.’” It alleged at least
20 Shia men tried by the SCC have been sentenced to death on the basis of
confessions obtained by torture since 2016, with 17 of them already executed.
Former detainees in facilities run by the Mabahith alleged that abuse
included beatings, sleep deprivation, and long periods of solitary
confinement for nonviolent detainees. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/saudi-arabia/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 15 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Allegations of
torture by police and prison officials are common, and access to prisoners by
independent human rights and legal organizations is extremely limited. In
March 2019, international media published leaked prison medical records
indicating that a number of political prisoners were suffering from cuts,
bruises, burns, and malnutrition. Human rights groups had reported in late
2018 that detained women’s rights activists were given electric shocks,
whipped, beaten, sexually abused, and threatened with rape. The family of one
of them, Loujain al-Hathloul,
said she had been offered freedom if she publicly recanted her allegations of
torture, which she refused to do. Corporal
punishment, most often lashing, is common in criminal sentencing. Capital
punishment is applied to a wide range of crimes other than murder, including
drug and protest-related offenses; juvenile offenders are not exempt from the
penalty. Use of the death penalty has increased in recent years. According to
the British human rights group Reprieve, Saudi Arabia executed at least 184
people in 2019, compared with 149 in 2018. An unprecedented
leak from Saudi Arabia exposes torture of dissidents Maya Kosoff, Columbia Journalism Review CJR, 3 April 2019 www.cjr.org/hero/guardian-saudi-leaked-medical-records.php [accessed 20 May
2019] New leaked medical
reports from Saudi Arabia confirm that political prisoners in Saudi Arabia,
especially women, have been severely mistreated, despite denials of torture
from the Saudi government. Notes from the medical reports, which were
prepared for King Salman and leaked to The Guardian, detail records of
malnutrition, wounds, bruising, burns, and cuts on political prisoners; in
one case, a female prisoner lost half of her body weight. The Committee to
Protect Journalists notes that four prisoners among those named in the report
are journalists: Zuhair Kutbi,
Hatoon al-Fassi,Fahd al-Sunaidi, and
Adel Benaimah. The medical
reports, which The Guardian reports will be given to King Salman with
recommendations to possibly pardon all the prisoners, or at least those who
have serious health issues, come after claims that some female activists who
have been jailed have been subjected to lashings and electric shocks while in
custody. They represent the first documented evidence from inside the kingdom
that political prisoners face severe physical abuse. While the government
officially and consistently denies allegations of mistreatment and torture,
the leaked medical reports paint another picture entirely. Victims of Saudi
Arabia mass execution 'made false confessions under torture' say reports Reporters, The
Telegraph, 26 April 2019 [accessed 12 May
2019] Victims of a mass execution
in Saudi Arabia were made to give false confessions obtained under torture,
according to media reports. Documents from the Awamiya case reveal how the men repeatedly told the court
that their admissions were false and had been obtained through torture. In
some cases, the suspects said they had provided nothing more than their
thumbprints to sign off on confessions which they claimed had been written by
their torturers. “Those aren’t my
words,” said one of the accused, Munir al-Adam,
during the trial, according to the documents. “I didn’t write a letter. This
is defamation written by the interrogator with his own
hand.” The 27-year-old,
who was partially blind and deaf, was named as one of the men executed. Another prisoner, Hussein
Mohammed al-Musallam, told the court that he suffered from multiple injuries,
including a broken nose, collarbone and leg. “Nothing in these
confessions is correct and I cannot prove that I was forced to do it,” said
Musallam. The Execution of Mujtaba al-Sweikat Elizabeth Redden,
Inside Higher Ed, 2 May 2019 [accessed 8 May
2019] "He was
subjected to psychological and physical abuse, which drained his
strength," his father reportedly said. "The interrogator dictated
the confession to Sweikat and forced him to sign it
so that the torture would stop. He signed it." United Nations
human rights officials had previously written to Saudi officials regarding
al-Sweikat’s case, using an alternative spelling of
his name. In November 2016, they wrote in regard to information they had
received that he “was routinely subjected to torture including suspension
from his hands and feet, sleep deprivation, severe beatings with cables and
shoes, cigarettes burns and pouring of cold water on his body during winter. He
was put in solitary confinement for three months. As a result, Mr. Suwaiket suffers from a broken shoulder, sustained pain
in back and knees and blood deficiency due to insufficient nutrition. He has
been deprived of any medical care. Mr. Suwaiket was
reportedly subjected to acts of torture until he confessed to armed
disobedience against the king and to attacking, shooting and injuring
security forces, civilians and passers-by … On 1 June 2016, after several
hearings, Mr. Suwaiket was convicted and sentenced
to death by the [Specialized Criminal Court], on the sole basis of the
confession extracted under torture.” Deposed
aide to Saudi crown prince accused of role in female activists' torture Reuters, 7 December
2018 www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/deposed-aide-to-saudi-crown-prince-accused-of-role-in-female-activists--torture-11008256 [accessed 8 December
2018] Deposed aide to
Saudi crown prince accused of role in female activists' torture Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch said last month at least three of the activists - most
of whom had agitated for the right to drive and an
end to a male guardianship system - were tortured. They did not report Qahtani's involvement. The sources, who asked
not to be identified for fear of reprisals, told Reuters that Qahtani was in the room on several occasions when one of
the four detained activists was subjected to kissing, groping and
electrocution. He made threats of rape and murder to the woman, the sources
said. At least two other
detainees endured sexual insults, flogging and electric shocks that turned
one of the women's fingers blue, the sources said. Captors also made another
woman kiss a male detainee while they watched, one of the sources said. Report
reveals Saudi detainees were subjected to torture and blackmail Middle East Monitor
MEMO, 5 November 2018 [accessed 6 November
2018] According to the
NBC report, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has information about the
Ritz detainees being subjected to various kinds of abuse, torture and
extortion. Sleep deprivation alone, it is alleged, led to the hospitalisation of 17 detainees. Indeed, claimed the
network, Major General Ali Bin Abdullah Al-Qahtani,
one of the most prominent figures during the reign of late King Abdullah,
died under torture after his arrest. One Canadian
businessman has claimed that he spoke to well-known Saudi businessman
Al-Waleed Bin Talal during his detention. Alain
Bender said that Bin Talal was held in a room like
a cell and had a difficult and uncomfortable time in detention. Bender is
said to have spoken to Bin Talal via a video call.
He added that a former court adviser confided to him that Bin Talal’s jailers “slapped some detainees and hung them
upside down.” An earlier report by Reuters said that the same royal adviser,
Saud Al-Qahtani, supervised the torture of Lebanese
Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri during his detention
in Riyadh last year. More
Insulting Lies From Saudi Arabia Nicholas Kristof,
Opinion Columnist, New York Times, 19 October 2018 www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/opinion/saudi-arabia-mohammed-bin-salman-jamal-khashoggi-lies.html [accessed 21 October
2018] The Saudi
government on Friday issued a statement claiming that Jamal was killed when a
fistfight went bad in its consulate in Istanbul. Really? This is a fistfight
to which the Saudi goons reportedly brought a bone saw so that they could dismember
him afterward; by some accounts, they began the dismemberment while he was
still alive. It’s also grotesque
for the Saudi authorities to claim that a journalist whose fingers they
reportedly amputated as part of their torture somehow managed to engage in a
fistfight. Jamal had no fists left. Report
Points to Mass Torture in UAE-Run Prisons in South Yemen Financial Tribune,
14 August 2018 [accessed 15 August
2018] [accessed 15 August
2018] The report—which
was provided by Yemeni military figures who worked with the Saudi-UAE coalition battling Yemen’s
Houthi forces—described scenes of sexual abuse by Emirati army personnel and
their Yemeni surrogates. Individuals endured
rape at the hands of coalition forces and were subjected to electrocution in
the genitals, chest and armpits. Some detainees were hung in midair while
being insulted and beaten, the report said. Electric cables
were used alongside wooden bats and steel poles during the interrogation
sessions. In some instances,
the detainees are described as having been deprived of sleep and confined to
narrow spaces with poor hygienic conditions and limited air ventilation. For some, this was
accompanied by sessions where their skins were lashed with whips and their
wounds were subsequently covered in salt. Others had industrial nails
inserted into their finger and toenails. The report alleged
more than 49 people died as a result of the torture and five gravesites were
used to bury the deceased. The account
confirms a report by the Associated Press published in June over alleged acts
of torture perpetrated by members of the Saudi-UAE
coalition in a network of at least 18 secret prisons. Saudi
Arabia using anti-terror laws to detain and torture political dissidents, UN
says Olivia Alabaster,
The Independent, 7 June 2018 [accessed 7 June
2018] The report also
stated that Mr Emmerson received “well-documented
reports of the use of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials
against individuals accused of having committed acts of terrorism". Those methods of
torture included electric shocks, sleep deprivation,
incommunicado and prolonged solitary detention, and beatings to the head,
face, jaw and feet.” UN
report: All parties in Yemen committed torture Middle East Monitor,
15 February 2018 www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180215-un-report-all-parties-in-yemen-committed-torture/ [accessed 16
February 2018] The 329-page report
which was submitted to the Security Council on 26 January was made public
yesterday. In it the publication a panel of Yemen experts concluded: “The Government
of Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Houthi-Saleh forces have all engaged
in arbitrary arrests and detentions, carried out enforced disappearances and
committed torture.” Investigations in
to 12 cases of detention by the United Arab Emirates in Burayqah,
at the Al Rayyan airport led the experts to
conclude that the UAE were responsible for torture, including imprisonment in
metal cages, ill treatment, enforced disappearance of detainees and denial of
due process. The report
confirmed the use of “starvation” as a weapon against the Yemenis by the Saudi-led coalition, which violated
international law. But the blame was put on all sides of the conflict, which
have violated international humanitarian law and international human rights
law. US
private security firm hired to torture Saudi billionaires, princes, including
Bin Talal Daily Sabah >
World > MidEast, 23 November 2017 [accessed 23
November 2017] Saudi officials
hired American private security contractors from the United Arab Emirates to
interrogate and torture princes and billionaire businessmen arrested in a
purge earlier in November, the Daily Mail reported Thursday. According to the online report, which
cited a Saudi source, the interrogations conducted by the "American
mercenaries" included beating, torturing, insulting of more than dozens
of Saudi princes, ministers and businessmen. The source said the
Crown Prince is conducting some of the interrogations by himself, treating
the detained people "nicely."
"Then he leaves the room, and the mercenaries go in. The
prisoners are slapped, insulted, hung up, tortured." Saudi
torture victims include former king's son David Hearst, Middle
East Eye, 17 November 2017 www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-former-crown-prince-among-saudi-torture-victims-340914670/ [accessed 18
November 2017] All six princes
were admitted to hospital in the 24 hours following their arrest. One of the
men was in such a bad condition that he was admitted to the hospital’s
intensive care unit - treatment which occurs when there is a high risk to the
life of a patient, such as organ failure, from the heart, lungs, kidneys, or
high blood pressure. Hospital staff were told that the injuries sustained in each case
were the result of "suicide attempts". All had been severely
beaten, but none of them had fractures. The marks on their bodies were
consistent with the imprints left by military boots. At least 17 of
those detained were taken to hospital, but the number maltreated in the purge
ordered by the current Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is certainly higher,
according to sources who MEE is unable to identify
because of concerns for their safety. IHEU:
“call it what it is — Saudi Arabia’s flogging of Raif
Badawi is barbarity and torture, plain and simple” International
Humanist and Ethical Union, 9 Jan 2015 iheu.org/iheu-call-it-what-it-is-saudi-arabias-flogging-of-raif-badawi-is-barbarity-and-torture-plain-and-simple/ [accessed 24 March
2015] It is reported that
officials have carried out the first 50 lashes of a 1000-lashes sentence
against Saudi liberal, Raif Badawi.
The charges related to his running of a Liberal Saudi website, focused on
advocating greater religious freedom, which was deemed “insulting to Islam”
and a threat to the state. The order papers
indicated that the lashings should be “severe”. Witnesses said that despite
the severity of the beating today, Raif Badawi “did not flinch; he held the victory symbol and
[a] guard had to hold his hand down“. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] SAUDI ARABIA CRIMINAL JUSTICE - Detainees,
including children, commonly face systematic violations of due process and
fair trial rights, including arbitrary arrest and torture and ill-treatment
in detention. Saudi judges routinely sentence defendants to floggings of
hundreds of lashes. In the absence of a
written penal code or narrowly-worded regulations, however, judges and
prosecutors can criminalize a wide range of offenses under broad, catch-all
charges such as “breaking allegiance with the ruler” or “trying to distort
the reputation of the kingdom.” Authorities do not always
inform suspects of the crime with which they are charged, or allow them
access to supporting evidence, even after trial sessions have begun in some
cases. Authorities generally do not allow lawyers to assist suspects during
interrogation and often impede them from examining witnesses and presenting
evidence at trial. Authorities continued to arrest and hold suspects for
months and sometimes years without judicial review or prosecution. On May 15,
an Interior Ministry database showed that criminal justice officials were
holding 293 individuals whose pretrial detention exceeded six months without
having referred their cases to the judiciary. At least 31 people had been
detained “under investigation” for more than six months. Torture case trio
await ruling Belfast Telegraph,
12 January 2014 www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/torture-case-trio-await-ruling-29908613.html [accessed 12 Jan
2014] Ronald Jones,
Alexander Mitchell, William Sampson and Leslie Walker claim they were
subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation and anal rape as well as being given
mind-altering drugs following their arrest in 2000 in Saudi Arabia's capital
city, Riyadh. 'Torture'
punishment: Saudi sentence man to be paralyzed Russia Today - RT
News Network, 4 April 2013 rt.com/news/arabia-paralysis-punishment-condemnation-315/ [accessed 5 April
2013] A Saudi Arabian
court has allegedly ordered a man to be paralyzed for stabbing his friend 10
years ago. The defendant’s family will have to pay out $266,000 or have their
son face a sentence decried as “torture” by Amnesty International. Twenty-four-year-old
Ali al-Khawaher stabbed his friend in the back when he was 14, putting the
victim in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Islamic Sharia law, which is
enforced in Saudi Arabia, allows for ‘eye-for-an-eye’ punishment in such cases,
or monetary compensation for the victim. Torture in Saudi
prisons shows Al Saud’s savagery: Iran MP Press TV, 25
Jan 2013 www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/25/285524/torture-in-saudi-prisons-shows-savagery/ [accessed 26 January
2013] www.taghribnews.com/vdcgzq9q3ak9xu4.5jra.html [accessed 30 August
2016] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – “Al Saud
security forces send thousands of Yemenis, who are only guilty of illegal
entry into Saudi Arabia for finding a job, to ghastly prisons without
mentioning any reason for the arrest,” Hadi Shoushtari said on Friday. Reports say a large
number of Yemenis are detained in Saudi Arabia prisons. In October 2012, an
18-year-old Yemeni youth died of severe torture by jail officers in a prison
of the Saudi intelligence agency. Al Saud even treats
with “utter brutality” the criminals who have rights in the civilized world today
and this is a sign of extreme savagery, the Iranian lawmaker said. Saudi Arabia:
Save Convicts from Amputation Human Rights Watch,
Beirut, December 16, 2011 www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/16/saudi-arabia-save-convicts-amputation [accessed 26 January
2013] After Unfair
Trials, Court Sentences Six to Lose Hands, Feet The Supreme Court
of Saudi Arabia should void a sentence to amputate the hands and feet of six
stateless people convicted of armed robbery, Human Rights Watch said today in
a letter to the Saudi Human Rights Commission. The sentence constitutes
internationally prohibited torture. Judge Abd al-‘Aziz Al
al-Shaikh of Riyadh’s General Court tried ‘Iyada and his co-defendants in
only two court sessions, each lasting less than one hour, and prohibited them
from appointing lawyers to assist them in their defense, ‘Iyada told Human
Rights Watch. ‘Iyada’s family-appointed lawyer prepared his written appeal,
but was not allowed to meet with his client, attend court sessions, or see
documents except for the public verdict. ‘Iyada told Human
Rights Watch that four officials of Riyadh’s criminal investigation department
tortured him over the course of 10 days after his arrest in mid-October 2010,
to force him to confess. “They beat me with
their hands, electrical cables, and sticks all over my body, for hours on
end, every day,” ‘Iyada said. A judge
authenticated ‘Iyada’s confession even though ‘Iyada stood before him with
marks of torture visible on his face, ‘Iyada said. Judge Al al-Shaikh
convicted the defendants despite noting in the verdict that they had
withdrawn their confessions on the grounds that they had been coerced. No
investigation into allegations of torture has taken place, to Human Rights
Watch’s knowledge. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/CR/28/5
(2002) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/saudiarabia2002.html [accessed 5 March
2013] C. Subjects of
concern 4. The Committee is
concerned as to the following aspects: a) While noting the
State party's indication that the Shari'a law expressly prohibits torture,
and other cruel and inhuman treatment, the State party's domestic law itself
does not explicitly reflect this prohibition, nor does it impose criminal
sanctions. The Committee considers that express incorporation in the State
party's domestic law of the crime of torture, as defined in article 1 of the
Convention, is necessary to signal the cardinal importance of this prohibition. b) The sentencing
to, and imposition of, corporal punishments by judicial and administrative
authorities, including, in particular, flogging and amputation of limbs, that
are not in conformity with the Convention. c) The different
regimes applicable, in law and in practice, to nationals and foreigners in
relation to their legal rights to be free from, and their ability to complain
of, conduct in violation of the Convention. The Committee recalls that the
Convention and its protections are applicable to all acts in violation of the
Convention which occur within its jurisdiction, from which it follows that
all persons are entitled, in equal measure and without discrimination, to the
rights contained therein. d) Allegations of
prolonged pre-trial detention of some individuals beyond the statutory limits
prescribed by law, which heightens the risk of, and may on occasion of itself
constitute, conduct in violation of the Convention. In this connection, the
Committee expresses its concern at instances of denial, at times for extended
periods, of consular access to detained foreigners. Moreover, the Committee
is concerned at the low degree of judicial supervision of pre-trial
detention. e) Reports of
detention incommunicado of detained persons, at times for extended periods,
particularly during pre-trial investigations. The lack of access to external
legal advice and medical assistance, as well as to family members, increases
the likelihood that conduct violating the Convention will not be
appropriately pursued and punished. f) The requirement
of article 100 of the statute of the Directorate of Public Security for an
investigating officer to endeavour "by judicious means" to
ascertain the reasons for an individual's silence. While the article in
question formally proscribes resort to torture or coercion, such a
requirement unjustifiably heightens the risk of conduct in violation of the
Convention. g) Cases of
deportation of foreigners that have been drawn to the Committee's attention
that seem to have been in breach of the obligations imposed by article 3 of
the Convention. h) The jurisdiction
of the Mutawe'en officials to pursue, inter alia, violations of the moral
code and to proscribe conduct they identify as not conducive to public
morality and safety. The Committee is concerned that the powers of these
officials are vaguely defined by law, and that their activities may violate
the Convention. i) The apparent
failure of the State party to provide effective mechanisms to investigate
complaints of breaches of the Convention. j) While noting the
State party's institution of mechanisms for the purpose of providing
compensation for conduct in violation of the Convention, as a practical
matter, compensation appears to be rarely obtained, and accordingly full
enjoyment of the rights guaranteed by the Convention is limited. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT Torture and other ill-treatment
of detainees and sentenced prisoners were reported to be common, widespread
and generally committed with impunity. Reported methods included beating,
suspension by the limbs and sleep deprivation. Those tortured reportedly
included detained protesters, who were held incommunicado for days or weeks
without charge or trial. Detainees held at
al-Hair prison reportedly told their families in August that they were
assaulted by prison guards and feared for their lives. CRUEL, INHUMAN OR
DEGRADING PUNISHMENTS The courts
continued to impose sentences of flogging as a principal or additional
punishment for many offences. At least five defendants were sentenced to
flogging of 1,000 to 2,500 lashes. Flogging was carried out in prisons. DEATH PENALTY The courts
continued to impose death sentences for a range of drugs and other offences.
Several hundred prisoners were believed to be on death row; some for many
years. At least 79 prisoners were executed, mostly in public. They included
at least 52 Saudi Arabians and at least 27 foreign nationals, including at
least one woman. Some prisoners were executed for non-violent offences. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/saudi-arabia [accessed 26 January
2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] In 2001, the
Council of Ministers approved a penal code that bans torture. However,
allegations of torture by police and prison officials are common, and access
to prisoners by independent human rights and legal organizations is strictly
limited. In October 2008, the Ministry of the Interior announced that it
would begin trials for hundreds of suspects arrested on charges of terrorism
since 2003. Although the ministry originally planned to make the proceedings
public, the authorities decided to keep the trials closed. The Committee to
Prevent Vice and Promote Virtue, a semiautonomous religious police force
commonly known as the mutawa’een, enforces a strict
policy of segregation between men and women and often harasses women, using
physical punishment to ensure that women meet conservative standards of dress
in public. In 2007, a court sentenced a Shiite woman from Qatif,
who had been gang raped by seven men, to 200 lashes and six months in jail
for being alone with a man who was not her relative at the time of the
attack; the man was also raped by the attackers and punished by the court.
The rapists were sentenced to flogging and jail terms ranging from two to
nine years. After an international outcry, the king pardoned the two victims
in December of that year. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61698.htm [accessed 26 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61698.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The Basic Law
prohibits torture and Shari'a prohibits judges from
accepting confessions obtained under duress; however, authorities abused both
citizens and foreigners. Ministry of Interior (MOI) officials were
responsible for most incidents of abuse of prisoners, including beatings,
whippings, and sleep deprivation. In addition, there were allegations of
beatings with sticks and suspension from bars by handcuffs. There were
allegations that these practices were used to force confessions from
prisoners. During the year the
religious police (Mutawwa'in) harassed, abused, and
detained citizens and foreigners of both sexes. These incidents were most
common in the central region, including the capital, Riyadh, and less
frequent in the eastern and western regions of the country. The government
sentenced criminals to punishment according to its interpretation of Shari'a. Corporal punishments provided by law included
public execution by beheading, amputation, lashing, and other measures deemed
appropriate by the judicial authorities, including potentially as
eye-gouging. By year's end, the
press reported approximately 86 executions. Executions were for killings,
narcotics-related offenses, rape, and armed robbery. The authorities punished
repeated thievery and other repeated offenses by amputation of the right hand
and left foot. The government also punished convicted persons by lashing,
According to press reports, lashes were generally administered with a thin
reed by a man who must hold a book under his arm to prevent him from lifting
the arm too high. The strokes, delivered through a thin shirt, are not
supposed to leave permanent damage, but to leave painful welts that bleed and
bruise. Persons convicted of less serious offenses, such as alcohol-related
offenses or being alone in the company of an unrelated person of the opposite
sex sometimes were punished by lashing. According to
January 6 press reports, two young citizens, Barjis
bin Faleh and Abdulrahman bin Haif,
were sentenced to prison terms (12 years and 1,200 lashes and 2 years and 200
lashes) for orchestrating, filming with a camera phone and distributing a
video on the Internet of a foreign driver sexually assaulting a 17-year-old
girl. The driver was sentenced to 2 years and 600 lashes. The press reported
on January 24 that a 12-year-old Bangladeshi boy was arrested for
pickpocketing pilgrims and lashed 80 times after conviction by an ad hoc
court in Mina. After arrest at a
private party in Jeddah on March 10, more than one hundred men were convicted
and sentenced after closed trials for "dancing and behaving like
women." More than 70 men were sentenced to one year's imprisonment.
Thirty one men received sentences ranging from six months to one year and 200
lashes for each. Four men were sentenced to two year's imprisonment and two
thousand lashes each, according to the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW). On November 14, a
court in Qassim Province ordered 750 lashes, as
well as a prison sentence of 40 months and a ban from teaching for Muhammad
al-Harbi, a high school chemistry teacher,
reportedly after accusations of "trying to sow doubt in a student's
creed" by speaking positively about his views on Christianity, Judaism,
and analyzing the causes of terrorism (see sections 1.e. and 2.a.). There was
domestic as well as international media attention to the case and the
sentences were not carried out because the king pardoned al-Harbi in December. At year's end the case Puthan Veettil 'Abdul Latif Noushad,
an Indian citizen was still under review under review in the appeals court in
Riyadh. In 2003 the greater Shari'a Court of Dammam
sentenced him to have his right eye gouged out in punishment for his role in
a fight which injured a Saudi citizen. Noushad was
sentenced to prison for three years Following a
December 16, 2004 political demonstration, 15 demonstrators were sentenced to
between 100 and 250 lashes. The government
reserved its position on Article 20 of the Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and does not
recognize the jurisdiction of the Committee against Torture to investigate
allegations of systematic torture. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Saudi
Arabia", http://gvnet.com/torture/SaudiArabia.htm, [accessed
<date>] |
