Deliberate Ill-Treatment of Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali and his Family
Private sources confirmed that the Saudi authorities postponed the trial of the detainee Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali and his detained sons twice in a week, last June, adding this arbitrary measure to the series of violations in this unfair trial.
According to informed sources, the first session, scheduled on June 20, 2021, was postponed for a week due to claims of the absence of the judge, and the second session was postponed as they claimed the absence of the defendants, thus confirms the authorities’ disregard for the rights of detainees and misusing the law.
We, in”Together for Justice”, confirm that the continued postponement of the trial is another abuse of the rights of the elderly Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali, as the authorities disregard his old age and illness, and insist on violating all his basic rights guaranteed under international laws, which stipulate the right to a fair trial, decent treatment and suitable living conditions for his health status.
Three years have passed since the arrest of Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali, who was arrested in July 2018 for publishing a book criticising the economic policies of the current Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and the role of the UAE and Sisi in Egypt, in terms of assisting the Zionist entity.
Since his arrest, Al-Hawali has been living in very poor detention conditions despite his old age and deteriorating health condition, which requires urgent medical care instead of detention and abuse.
In 2018, with the arrest campaign against intellectuals, scholars and academics, Al-Hawali was arrested with three of his sons and taken to an unknown location for a while, before being transferred to the hospital in a dangerous condition, as he suffers from Kidney failure and pelvic fracture, for which he needs adequate and urgent medical care.
According to close sources, Al-Hawali has been deprived of health care since the first moments of his arrest. It is worth noting that the Saudi authorities, despite all the demands and pleas, are still hiding information on the detention conditions of political detainees who suffer from inhuman detention conditions, degrading treatment and constant torture.
This is not Al-Hawali’s first arrest. He was arrested twice before in 1994 and in 1999, for opposing the Saudi regime and calling for reform.
We confirm that the opinions and ideas that Sheikh Safar al-Hawali embraces, are no justification for imprisoning him, depriving him of his freedom and depriving him of all his basic rights.
We will continue to stress that opposing the regimes is not a crime. Expressing an opinion is not a crime. On the contrary, it is a right guaranteed to every human being.
We call on the Saudi authorities to release the preacher Safar Al-Hawali immediately due to his deteriorating health condition, as well as releasing all prisoners of conscience, especially since many of them are now threatened with death due to the widespread deliberate medical negligence in a Saudi prison.
