HRW Raises Concerns over Saudi Mass Trial of 68 Jordanians, Palestinians

Michael Page, deputy director in the Middle East and North Africa division at HRW, said, “Saudi Arabia’s extended record of unfair trials raises suspicions that Jordanian and Palestinian defendants will face serious fabricated charges and harsh penalties.”

He continued, “Some of the detainees claimed that they were subjected to serious violations at a time when the coronavirus pandemic poses severe health threats to prisoners,” emphasizing that Saudi Arabia should “consider alternatives to detention, especially for those in pre-trial detention.”

HRW talked to six members of the families of the seven accused, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals against them or their imprisoned relatives, Middle East Monitor reported.

The detainees’ relatives said that the Saudi security forces arrested five of the defendants during raids on their homes starting in 2018, and detained two others at airports while trying to leave the country.

The accused families referred to a set of violations that the Saudi authorities have committed against the defendants following their arrests, including enforced disappearance, prolonged solitary confinement, and torture.

Two relatives reported that they were present during the house raids carried out by the security forces in February and April 2019, stating that: “A large number of security forces stormed the houses wearing masks and carrying rifles and cameras as if they were going to a sort of battle.”

The detainees’ families also conveyed, “The Saudi security forces were there when our children returned from school. A 14-year-old, upon her return, was subjected to interrogation, and the investigator was armed with a pistol.”

Another relative noted that her 9-year-old daughter was “crying because they (the security forces) were terrifying, the way they were all over the house, and the way they looked. I had to tell her they were looking for a thief.”

In another case, one of the detainee’s relatives disclosed that on the night of the arrest, at around 4 am, four men in civilian outfits knocked on the door, saying that his relative’s car had broken down.

He added, “When (the defendant) came to talk to them, they introduced themselves as being from the State Security Service. They told him that he had to come with them and that he would return after a few hours. The authorities refused for three months to inform his family about his whereabouts.”

All six family members informed that they were unable to know the situation or whereabouts of their detained relatives for up to six months.

Some stressed that family members looked at the various investigation prisons, but the authorities denied the presence of their relatives there, some of whom later found that their relatives were in those prisons.

In March 2018, the Saudi authorities carried out an arrest campaign targeting a group of Palestinians and Jordanians who had been living in the kingdom for a long time, based on vague allegations of supporting an unnamed “terrorist entity”.

After some detainees were held for nearly two years without being charged for any crimes, the Saudi authorities started a mass trial behind closed doors on March 8, 2020, at the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh.