On the morning of May 18th, Sheikh Jalal AL Jamal was arbitrarily arrested by the Saudi authorities. AL Jamal received a call in May 15th from the General Intelligence center, which located in the south side of Qatif in Enak city, asking him to come to receive tickets to attend the coming court session in Jeddah city. However, he was arrested right away and sent to the Intelligence’s prison in Dammam.
AL Jamal’s family found out the next day after checking with the General Intelligence center, and when they asked about the reasons for the illegal arrest they were told that a sudden decision was issued by the court “to arrest every free citizen who is going through trials “. This decision is a clear violation of Article 212 “Penal judgments shall not be enforced unless and until they have become final” and another violation of Article 216 of the Law of Criminal Procedure “The Chief of the court that has rendered the executable penal judgment shall send it to the Administrative Governor to take enforcement actions. The administrative Governor shall take immediate action to enforce that judgment [1] “.
The Special Criminal Court issued on May 17th a preliminary sentence on AL Jamal serving five years in prison and a fine of 50,000 riyals ($ 13333), after the prosecutor charges him with “seeking and disturbing the public peace – the production and storage of what would prejudice public order – create a website that calls out for demonstrations and overthrowing the guardian – possessing and distributing videos relating to Qatif events – subscripting to groups mailing against the state”, He has submitted objecting to under the rule of law, which lawfully doesn’t justify his arrest.
He was released earlier on the 5th of March 2013 after spending 373 days in the General Intelligence’s prison in Dammam, where he was arrested in the street on his way to work in 25/02/2012. AL Jamal works a teacher in an elementary school in Dammam. He is having health problems due to the torture in the last arrest.
We in the European Saudi Society for Human Rights (ESSHR) condemn this arbitrary arrest and call the Saudi authorities for:
- An immediate release of Sheikh AL Jamal.
- Granting AL Jamal immediate unrestricted access to his family and a lawyer.
- Ensure the physical and psychological integrity of AL Jamal, and not subjecting him to torture.
We in the (ESSHR) express our deep concern since AL Jamal was previously torture and could possibly be subjected to torture again. We recall the Saudi authorities to Article 11 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman Or Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, which Saudi joined in September 1997, that states “Each State Party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to preventing any cases of torture “.