On the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which occurs on June 26 every year, the world celebrates the anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Treatment. Although Saudi Arabia has acceded to the Convention since 1997, torture is still a systematic practice carried out by official institutions. These agencies are directly linked to King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his Crown Prince, Muhammad bin Salman, practicing torture without fear of censorship and punishment by relying on the highest political authority in the country.
Documenting the cases of torture in Saudi Arabia confirms that it is a widespread practice, and multiple security and judicial institutions participate in it, most of which belong to the King and the Crown Prince, most notably the Public Prosecution, which is directly related to the King, and the Presidency of State Security headed by his son bin Salman, which includes the General Investigations. , Emergency Forces and Special Forces. Border guards/customs/from outside the border through sister countries
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights' monitoring shows that torture and ill-treatment are practiced in Saudi Arabia during all the stages the detainee goes through, from arrest to the investigation stage, and continues even after the issuance of the verdict.
Arrest and detention:
The bodies that are responsible for arrest and detention practice torture at various levels. According to the monitoring of ESOHR, from the moment of arrest, the detainee is subjected to ill-treatment and torture, and often to excessive use of violence without justification, in addition to enforced disappearance in many cases.
In many cases, when the arrest is made by border guards, the accused is mistreated from the moment of arrest. In the case of Hussein Abu al-Khair, a Jordanian who was arrested by the border guards at the Drug Enforcement Administration branch in Haql, where he was beaten and tortured for 12 days, during which he was forced to sign confessions that were later used against him, and he is now facing the risk of execution.
In addition, ESOHR monitored the use of violence during the raids of the emergency forces and special forces, which have been affiliated with the Presidency of State Security since 2017, when violence and heavy weapons were used and families were intimidated. Information indicates that in various periods, especially after the popular movement in Qatif, raids were used on a large scale and in many cases without legal warrants or arrest warrants. In addition, according to the organization’s tracking, the security forces, which raid and break into homes on the pretext of pursuing wanted persons, arrest everyone who is in them, including women in some cases, without arrest warrants. In the case of the detainee, Saud al-Faraj, his wife, and infant daughter were arrested during the raid, which seriously injured al-Faraj.
In addition, the organization monitored widespread violations in police stations. In March 2016, Makki al-Arayedh was killed two days after his arrest at a checkpoint located between the cities of Awamiya and Safwa. Although the police forces claimed that he died naturally, the family confirmed that they found signs of torture, including wounds, beatings, and signs of electrocution on his body.
التحقيق:
The Public Prosecution, which is directly subordinate to King Salman in Saudi Arabia, per Article Three of its system, is responsible for the following: interrogating detainees in crimes, disposing of the investigation by filing a case under the regulations, and prosecuting before the judicial authorities following the regulations.
The ESOHR's documentation shows that individuals were subjected to torture during the investigation period. In some cases, torture aims to extract confessions, and in other cases, it aims at revenge and sometimes leads to death. In January 2017, days after his arrest, the young man Jaber Al-Aqili died, and information indicated that he died as a result of the torture he was subjected to during the investigation. In addition, torture during the investigation leads to permanent injuries and permanent disabilities, as happened in the case of the young Munir Al Adam, who was later executed.
The organization documented that individuals were subjected to various forms of torture during the investigation period. In addition, follow-ups confirmed that the detectives in Saudi Arabia run unofficial detention facilities called hotel or villa, where many women human rights defenders were subjected to torture during the investigation period. They used horrific methods, including electric shocks, sexual harassment, flogging, and waterboarding, among them Loujain al-Hathloul and Iman al-Najfan.
In addition to state security issues, information indicates that criminal prisons also practice forms of abuse. In the case of the minor, Abdullah Al-Hwaiti, he confirmed in his memoirs that he had been tortured since his arrest at Duba Police Station. Al-Hwaiti indicated that he was forced to stand for long hours, and was also insulted. When he was transferred to the criminal investigation in the city of Tabuk, the physical and psychological torture began to escalate, to force him to confess to committing the crime.
Trial:
After the investigation phase ends, violations against detainees continue, as ESOHR monitored the referral of the Public Prosecution to cases of individuals from whom confessions were extracted under torture to the court.
The ESOHR's documentation confirms that judges in Saudi Arabia largely ignore allegations of torture and ill-treatment. The organization's follow-up of dozens of cases before the Specialized Criminal Court for Terrorism confirmed that judges refuse to investigate the detainees' assertion that they were forced to certify their statements. In some cases, the detaining judge threatens to re-interrogate him and thus re-expose him to torture if he does not agree to ratify the statements.
The organization analyzed the verdicts of 14 detainees who were facing the death penalty before the judge, who confirmed that they had been subjected to torture and other cruel treatment. According to the organization's s audit, the Saudi judiciary did not pay attention to the allegations of torture that the death row confirmed occurred. The Saudi government also did not take any measures regarding the request of a number of those sentenced to death to summon the interrogators, and their request to bring video recordings of the interrogation sessions, where there are cameras in the interrogation rooms, to prove their allegations that the interrogators extracted confessions from them under duress and torture.
In addition to the Specialized Criminal Court, the organization documented the criminal courts’ violation of local and international laws, as the Tabuk Court issued a Harba death sentence against the minor Abdullah Al-Hwaiti, and then re-sentenced him as Qisas, after the Supreme Court overturned the ruling, despite his assertion that he was subjected to severe torture during the trial.
After the trial::
After the verdicts are issued, cases of violations and ill-treatment of male and female detainees continue. According to ESOHR mentoring, detainees are subjected to ill-treatment while serving their sentences in criminal and political prisons.
The Presidency of State Security runs nearly twenty prisons and detention centers across Saudi Arabia, in addition to major prisons with high-security measures such as Al-Ha'ir Prison, Dammam Investigation Prison, Dhahban Prison, and Al-Tarfiya Prison. Monitoring by the European-Saudi Organization confirmed that detainees were subjected to various types of ill-treatment and torture in prisons. Despite the death sentence issued against him by the Specialized Criminal Court, violations continued against the detainee Abbas Al-Hassan, who was placed in a solitary cell and prevented from obtaining his medicine. Al-Hassan was executed in April 2019.
In addition, human rights defenders suffer from ill-treatment and torture in prisons after their sentences, including Muhammad Al-Qahtani, who was subjected to attacks in prison. The mistreatment continues to drive him to repeatedly declare hunger strikes. The information also indicates that the prison administration deliberately neglects the health of detainees, including the elderly Aida Al-Ghamdi.
In April 2020, human rights defender Abdullah Al-Hamid died, according to information, from medical negligence he was subjected to in prison. In May 2021, human rights defender Zuhair Ali Al-Sharida died in prison while serving his sentence after being beaten.
In addition to violating its internal regulations that criminalize torture, Saudi Arabia is also violating the Convention against Torture.
Monitoring the course of torture and ill-treatment in Saudi Arabia since arrest until after the ruling shows its violation of several articles, including:
- Article 11: 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.
- Article 12: Each State Party shall ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction.
- Article 14: Each State Party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible. In the event of the death of the victim as a result of an act of torture, his dependants shall be entitled to compensation.
- Article 15: Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings.
ESOHR affirms that torture is a crime under international law, and therefore the pursuit of justice cannot take place without punishing the criminals responsible for this crime, which is widely practiced in Saudi Arabia and does not exclude minors, in addition to being used to retaliate against activists and as a prelude to issuing arbitrary provisions.