Four years after his arrest – Human Rights NGOs call on the Saudi authorities to reveal the fate of Musa Al-Ghanami
On Monday, September 18, 2017, the Saudi authorities arrested the researcher, Musa Al-Ghanami, who is known for his opposition to the ideology of the armed jihadist movements. His arrest came as part of an arrest campaign against dozens of academics, scholars and jurists.
The authorities claimed that those arrested were carrying out intelligence activities with external entities, including the Muslim Brotherhood, which was classified as a terrorist entity in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Ghanami is a legal researcher known for fighting the ideas of armed entities such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, especially those in Syria. He also supported the Army of Islam, which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is supporting and directing in Eastern Ghouta.
Al-Ghanami graduated from Imam Mohamed bin Saud University. He has many researches in the legal and intellectual fields.
During the blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain on the State of Qatar; Al-Ghanami was arrested with others under the “crimes of terrorism and its financing law”, under article 1, which states that “endangering national unity, or disrupting the Basic Law of Governance or some of its articles, or harm the country’s reputation or status from terrorist crimes.”
Many violations were practiced against Al-Ghanami, who was arbitrarily arrest and detained in an unknown location, and prevented from appointing a lawyer to defend him. Family visits or communications were also banned.
Al-Ghanami’s arrest created a state of controversy and a divergence of opinions among social media users, even those affiliated to the Saudi regime, due to their knowledge of Al-Ghanami’s line of thinking which does not clash with the Saudi authority.
Therefore, opinions differed between those denouncing his arrest and claiming that it mustve been a mistake, but the Twitter account of the Prisoners of Conscience, confirmed that Al-Ghanami was arrested as part of the September arrests campaign, and five months later it revealed Al-Ghanami’s detention conditions, and stated that the charges against him are still unknown.
Many national and International human rights organizations showed solidarity with Musa Al-Ghanami and demanded the Saudi authorities to immediately release him, especially since there is no evidence or charges raised against him, but the authorities never responded and completely ignored these calls.
ALQST Organization for Human Rights announced its solidarity with Al-Ghanami and appealed to the authorities to release him and enable him to appoint a lawyer to find out his detention conditions and the charges filed against him.
Together for justice called on the Saudi authorities to end the widespread arrest campaigns against important figures of the Saudi society who work in line with the standards of civil societies in the Kingdom. It also called the authorities to release Al-Ghanami, and to guarantee his practice of all his political and human rights, especially the right to appoint a lawyer and allowing family visits.
The organisation called on the Public Prosecution in Saudi Arabia to reveal the circumstances of his arrest.
On May 8, 2021, the Twitter account of Prisoners of Conscience appealed to the authorities in Saudi Arabia to reveal the detention conditions of Al-Ghanami since his arrest, and to reveal his fate after four years of arbitrary detention without charge or justification, saying; “We demand the authorities to immediately disclose the fate of the sheikh #Musa Al-Ghanami, one of the detainees of the September 2017 campaign”.
More: Saudi Regime Forcibly Disappeared Abdullah Jilan for Criticizing the Crown Prince
