For sending money to his parents, MBS’s regime sentences Syrian engineer to 15 years in prison

A Syrian family made a desperate plea in a video message to the Saudi authorities, pleading for the release of their son, who is being held in Saudi jails after being sentenced to 15 years in prison for providing financial and humanitarian aid to those in need in Syria, including his elderly parents.

The father and mother of Syrian engineer Abdul Kafi Ahmed Nassif Al-Ahmad appeared in the video clip pleading with King Salman to free their son, who was wrongfully detained by the security forces for sending money to his family and some needy people in Syria after in light of the ongoing war. Without giving him a chance to speak with a lawyer, the Saudi authorities imprisoned and sentenced him on alleged terrorism charges.

Abdul Kafi Ahmed Nassif Al-Ahmad is a Syrian engineer who has lived in Saudi Arabia for years. Throughout his stay, he did not break any laws, and his criminal record is spotless. Since the start of the Syrian war, and given the deteriorating living conditions and the targeting of his family home, he decided to periodically send financial aid to his elderly parents and a number of family members through legal and legitimate channels.

However, he was not targeted by the Saudi authorities that launched a large-scale arrest campaign against Syrians, Jordanians, and Palestinians who helped their families afflicted by the war in their country. He was later sentenced, after in an unfair trial, to 15 years in prison.

Abdul Kafi’s parents are currently without a wage earner, as are his young children, whose father’s arrest cut off their source of income. The Saudi authorities have ignored the family’s distress messages and have refused to reevaluate Abdul Kafi’s case despite appeals based on humanitarian and human rights concerns.

Together for Justice renews its call to the relevant authorities in the United Nations and the free people around the world to unite their efforts in order to pressure the Saudi authorities to release all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners and open serious investigations into the violations they have been subjected to.

The organisation further states that these individuals’ arrest was unlawful from the start; the Saudi authorities attempted to legitimize the situation by trying to bring them to trial, but those were farcical plays in which the fundamental requirements of justice were not met; additionally, the authorities do not follow through on these same rulings when their sentences come to an end, and they keep these detainees in custody without any legal basis.