Abdelrahman Al-Sadhan: Victim of Repression Policies of the Saudi Regime
On Wednesday, March 25, 2020, human rights and media reports announced that the first session of the trial of the Saudi activist and political prisoner, Abdelrahman Al-Sadhan, was held secretly, in absence of his family and lawyers, and without informing them of the details of the accusations raised against Al-Sadhan or his legal status.
Abdelrahman Al-Sadhan, faced the worst experience of enforced disappearance, according to many. He faced the most horrific repression practices against him by the Saudi regime of the current crown prince MBS.
Al-Sadhan was arrested about three years ago from the Red Crescent office in which he worked, specifically on March 12, 2018, and has been forcibly disappeared since then.
Areej Al-Sadhan, Abdelrahman’s sister, revealed that his news had been cut off for a month, after which the Saudi State Security Forces announced that he was being held in their custody, “but they refused to share any information about the reason or the place of his detention.”
For 23 months, the family did not hear anything from Abdelrhman, until he was allowed to contact them in a phone call that lasted a minute. He assured them that he was still alive and in detention inside Al-Ha’ir Prison. His news was cut off again, leaving the family in a state of confusion and suffering since his arrest.
Al-Sadhan has been subjected to a number of human rights violations since the first day of his detention. The Saudi regime has a bad reputation regarding the treatment of political detainees inside its prisons and places of detention, as well as torture, forced confession, medical negligence, and other cruel treatment methods, which are criminalized by international laws.
Al-Sadhan’s arrest is a result of the brutal repression policies pursued by the current regime, as he is a victim of the Saudi authorities spying on Twitter users and hacking the accounts of opponents. The real identity of Al-Sadhan was found after monitoring an opposition account on social media, where he lost his freedom as a result of this grave violation, according to US Bloomberg Agency.
Al-Sadhan did not commit any crime punishable by law, and he remains under forced disappearance without being brought to trial for so long.
The whole crime of Abdelrhman, like hundreds inside Saudi prisons, is being among innocent citizens who called for freedom, democracy and social justice.
We in “Together for Justice” stress the need to immediately release Al-Sadhan and ensure that he obtains all his rights, which the regime has not stopped violating since the first day of his detention.
Together for Justice calls on the United Nations and international human rights organizations to urgently intervene to save the fate of Abdelrahman Al-Sadhan, and to put pressure on the Saudi regime to improve the human rights situation in the country.
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