Charged with Refusing to Privatize Aramco: Jamil Farsi is Suffering in Saudi Prisons
On September 25, 2017, Saudi State Security Forces arrested the journalist Jamil Farsi. Human rights activists attributed his arrest to two things; the first is advising a Saudi minister during a TV interview not to sell or privatize ARAMCO, where he told him “do not be like the doctor who sold his specialty certificate”.
The second thing is contacting the family of Sheikh Salman Aloudah to check on them after his arrest, and assuring the family that will take care of all their needs and expenses until the Sheikh comes out of prison.
Media and human rights reports attributed the arrest to the journalist’s statement about assigning the management of gold mines and mineral extraction to family companies belonging to the ruling family in the Kingdom.
In October 2020, human rights pages reported that the Specialized Criminal Court in Saudi Arabia issued an initial ruling against journalist Jamil Farsi, one of the detainees of the September 2017 campaign, to five years in prison.
‘Mujtahid’ Twitter account has tweeted that Farsi is suffering a severe deterioration in his health and psychological condition, after Saudi authorities deliberately abused him, harshened his detention conditions, and deprived him of all his human and political rights, such as preventing him from visits and providing him with the necessary medical care, and dispensing treatment and the necessary medication for his condition, and exerting various forms of psychological pressure on him.
“We do not know the reason behind the authorities of Saudi Arabia practicing all these violations against Farsi,” the account said.
In the same context, the Saudi Academy “Madawi Al-Rasheed” wrote a greeting to Farsi in his prison, the man with a political principle, which prevents him from selling his homeland. Al-Rasheed cited a video of Farsi, in which he talks about the government of Saudi Arabia selling a gold mine worth 7 billion dollars to one of the princes of the ruling family with only $ 100 million.
Governmental organizations, press and media unions announced their solidarity with the detained Saudi writer Jamil Farsi, and criticized Saudi prison conditions, the policy of restricting freedom of expression and speech, interference in the editorial policy of newspapers, satellite and local channels, and the deliberate psychological abuse of anyone who has an opinion that does not match that of MBS.
Together for Justice called on human rights organizations to stand in solidarity with all political and human rights detainees in the prisons of Saudi Arabia.
It also appealed to the Saudi authorities to release all political detainees, who work peacefully and in accordance with the rules and laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and also called on the prison administration to treat political detainees with dignity and respect their human and societal status.
“Mujtahid” Twitter account called on the big families of Jeddah, its respected people, businessmen and influential personalities, to intervene in order to save the journalist Jamil Farsi who suffers deliberate abuse in Saudi prisons.
Despite the lack of certain information for what is behind the arrest of Farsi, Mujtahid believes that he did not respond to requests to retract his positions on many economic, human rights and perhaps political issues, the most important of which is his position on selling Aramco, Mujtahid added.
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