Press release: the statements by Saudi Attorney General

Press release

February 16, 2022

London

Sanad Human Rights Organisation

Sanad Human Rights Organisation observed the statements published by Saudi Attorney General, Saud Al-Mojeb, on Tuesday, 15 February 2022, in which he claimed that, “it is not permissible to restrict the actions of anyone, nor arrest or imprison anyone, except with a legal document”. Furthermore, in a lengthy interview with a local newspaper, he asserted that, “freedom is the foundation of the Saudi authority”, claiming that the Public Prosecution conducts prison inspection tours to ensure all prisoners have their rights upheld, and that all international charters and treaties in preserving human dignity are adhered to.

Sanad is astonished at the great contradiction between the statements of the Public Prosecutor and the reality on the ground in Saudi Arabia where there is suppression of freedoms, repression of activists, and arbitrary arrests targeting all those calling for reform or exercise their legitimate right to express opinion.

The prisons the Public Prosecutor referred to alleging strict inspection committees monitored day and night are in fact places where detainees and activists are tortured, such as the activist Issa al-Nukhaifi, lawyer Walid Abu al-Khair, Dr Ali al-Omari, activist AbdulRahman al-Sadhan and journalist Zuhair Kutbi. It is also in these very prisons where female prisoners – such as Lujain al-Hathlool and Samar Badawi, and the elderly Aida Al-Ghamdi and Aisha Al-Muhajiri – were subjected to torture, electrocution and sexual assault.

Sanad questions whether the Attorney General is aware that the State Security apparatus – which is beyond his control – has arrested hundreds of people from their homes in the middle of the night without any legal documents, arrest warrants or judicial orders, and forcibly disappeared for many months without trial, and some even without charges. These detainees languish in prisons of the Saudi regime and are subjected to torture and deliberate medical neglect. We also question if the Public Prosecutor knows about the four-year-old girl, Kayan al-Juhani, who knows nothing of this world except the walls of her cell, and about the young people who have been executed for charges they committed when they were children.

Sanad Human Rights Organisation rejects the statements of the Attorney General and all the fallacies they contain and considers them devoid of any credibility or validity. Indeed, they do not reflect the reality of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, and is but a provocative attempt by the Attorney General to improve the image of the repressive Saudi regime in all its judicial, penal and executive bodies.

Sanad asserts that the Public Prosecutor must fix the obvious flaw in the Public Prosecution system and the bodies he supervises. Sanad also affirms that the Prosecution must fulfil its responsibilities and abide by its legislations and duties rather than seek media review and deceptive promotion. It must abide by international conventions and treaties, and hold accountable and punish all those involved in cases of torture and human rights violations, including those who committed the horrific murder of the late journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Sanad Human Rights Organisation