Dr. Mohamed Al-Qahtani’s Family Raise Concerns over his Fate

The wife of the imprisoned human rights defender Dr. Mohamed Al-Qahtani launched a cry for help to disclose her husband’s fate after being denied any family contact by the al-Ha’ir Prison administration for six days despite his difficult health situation.
Mrs. Maha Al-Qahtani affirmed that her imprisoned husband is again being denied family contact by the prison administration, who are refusing to give any information about him since Oct. 24.
Al-Qahtani, a former professor at the Riyadh Institute for Diplomatic Studies, was arrested in 2012 along with a large number of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) which called for focussing on the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and for an elected parliament and the creation of legal institutions to support transparency and accountability in the Kingdom.
One year later, Al-Qahtani was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by a 10-year travel ban after an unfair and secret trial.
Al-Qahtani is scheduled to be released next November after serving his prison sentence. However, his sudden disappearance sparks concerns of being reconvicted and retried over new charges.
In detention, Al-Qahtani was subjected to repeated harassment and human rights violations, pushing him to declare a hunger strike more than once in protest against his difficult detention conditions.
Speaking to Together for Justice, Mrs. Maha Al-Qahtani affirmed that her husband demanded to file a complaint about the repeated harassment and ill-treatment he has faced in prison. However, the phone conversation was suddenly ended, and his fate remained unknown since then.
Together for Justice calls on the international community to take serious action against the growing human rights violations being reported in Saudi prisons and to intervene to disclose the fate of Dr. Al-Qahtani and all those forcibly disappeared in the Kingdom.
Together for Justice further calls on the free people and human rights activists to raise the voice of those silenced in Saudi jails.