Saudi Judge Muhammad Al-Ghamdi’s Whereabouts Still Unknown

Together for Justice affirmed that the whereabouts of Saudi judge Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, who was recently arrested by Saudi security forces, are still unknown.

On April 10, the Saudi security forces arrested Al-Ghamdi after raiding his office for unknown reasons. He was later taken to an unknown detention centre. No further details were revealed about his whereabouts till the time of writing.

Al-Ghamdi is the president of the Court of Appeal in Al-Baha and a member of the Supreme Court.

Al-Ghamdi was not the first judge to be arrested over the past period in the Kingdom. Several judges were also detained during the same period for unknown reasons, despite being strongly linked to the Saudi judicial system. Some of them have previously issued severe penalties against political opponents in unfair trials.

The arrested judges include Judge Abdullah bin Khalid Al-Luhaidan (the son of the President of the Supreme Court), Judge Abdulaziz bin Madawi Al-Jaber (recently promoted to the Specialized Criminal Court), and the two members of the Court of Appeal, Judge Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Saghir, and Judge Talal bin Abdullah Al-Humaidan.

The three members of the Supreme Court Judge Nasser Al-Harbi, Judge Khalid bin Awaid Al-Qahtani and Judge Muhammad bin Misfer Al-Ghamdi were also among the targeted judges.

According to well-informed sources, all the judges were detained from their workplaces at the Saudi Supreme Court. No further details were released since then.

Together for Justice affirms total rejection of all forms of arbitrary detention, regardless of the political orientation of the targeted person.

We further stress everyone’s right to freedom, decent treatment, and a fair and public hearing if being legally convicted.

We call on the Saudi authorities to reveal the whereabouts of the detained judges and guarantee their access to a lawyer, ensure they are subjected to any kind of physical or physical torture, and investigate any torture reports.