Hassan Muhammad Al Rabea (17 August 1996), a Saudi citizen, was arrested at Marrakech Airport on 14 January 2023, while he was attempting to travel to Turkey.
A person contacted his family, informing them that Morocco intends to extradite him to Saudi Arabia within 48 hours and that he is wanted by Interpol International.
Al-Rabea had left Saudi Arabia a year and two months ago and was not wanted by security. He moved between Indonesia, Oman and several countries, before arriving in Morocco, where he stayed for about 5 months.
His departure from Saudi Arabia came after the escalation of violations, especially against his family. The Saudi security forces launched several raids to arrest his brother Munir, and arbitrarily arrested his older brother, Ali Al-Rabea, in what is believed to be this arrest to pressure his brother Munir to surrender, and in the context of the hostage-taking approach that Saudi Arabia began to apply extensively during the reign of King Salman and his son.
Recently, the Specialized Criminal Court issued a death sentence against his brother, Ali Al-Rabea, on charges, including those related to the exercise of legitimate rights.
Saudi Arabia resorts to retaliatory practices against the families of detainees and wanted persons, and often takes them hostage, as it prevents them from travelling and arrests them.
In addition, in light of Saudi Arabia's widespread practice of torture and mistreatment, the arrest of Hassan Mohammad Al-Rabea, and the possibility of his extradition to Saudi Arabia, violate international laws. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, ratified by Morocco in 1993, prohibits the extradition of suspects to a state where they are likely to be tortured.
According to the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, citizens who are extradited to Saudi Arabia are subjected to abuse and persecution, as they are subjected to unfair trials, and moody and lengthy sentences are issued against them. Several governments had colluded with Saudi Arabia's bad record.
In March 2021, Morocco extradited Dr Osama Al-Hassani to Saudi Arabia, despite fears for his freedom and safety, as he was later subjected to enforced disappearance. On 10 April 2017, the Philippines returned the young woman, Dina Ali to Saudi Arabia while she was on her way to Australia seeking humanitarian asylum. On 25 May 2017, Qatar forcibly returned human rights defender Mohammed Al-Otaibi to Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison after a trial that lacked any conditions of justice. On 12 May 2018, the Kuwaiti government handed over the poet Nawaf Talal Al-Rasheed to Saudi Arabia, after he was on a visit to Kuwait from Qatar. On 5 March 2019, Oman forcibly returned Amjad Tariq Al-Faraj (1999) to Saudi Arabia, and he is still arbitrarily detained.
ESOHR believes that Morocco's handover of Al-Rabea to Saudi Arabia is a complicity that violates just laws and that this violation is added to Morocco's black record in its repressive cooperation with Saudi Arabia, and this will expose Al-Rabea family to torture and imprisonment with long sentences, and it is not excluded that he may be sentenced to death.