Khaled Abdul Rahman Al-Tuwaijri spends 15 years in arbitrary detention
The young Saudi man Khaled Abdul Rahman Al-Tuwaijri has been detained for over 15 years over his political views, which he attempted to voice during a period when Saudi Arabia was considered to be in the “Middle Ages,” as the current Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) described. However, despite his ascent to power and his claims to have implemented social and economic reforms, the political reality in the Kingdom remains unchanged from that time, and many political prisoners are still being held arbitrarily and even cruelly treated.
The young man Khaled Abdul Rahman Al-Tuwaijri is a victim of this brutality. Following his arrest in 2009, he endured severe torture, degrading treatment, and denial of all fundamental rights. Al-Tuwaijri’s agony increased to the point where he was unable to walk as a result of the intense torture he endured after the new king took over and appointed his son as crown prince.
His mother described the various forms of torture her son Khaled endured 11 years after his arrest in a social media post in 2019. As per her post, the detention methods employed by the Saudi regime include “sleep deprivation, hanging, and kicking with feet in sensitive areas, in addition to electrocution, having his hands and feet tied, deprivation of eating, drinking, and going to restroom, and solitary confinement, as well as shaving beards, denying him winter clothes, sleeping on the cold floor, raising the cold level of the air conditioner, and depriving him of medical treatment.”
Khaled was transferred from prison to prison more than five times during his imprisonment, she explained, and he has been kept in solitary confinement for many more times. She also mentioned that the prison guards purposefully insult and provoke the inmates, and they frequently utter derogatory remarks at the command of the administration.
“When my son Khaled was transferred to Asir prison last year, the prison administration contacted us and told us that Khaled is in the hospital after being subjected to severe torture,” she continued. When I told them that if something bad happened to him, you would be held responsible, they said to me: It is one death!?”, and she continued: “ When the lives of the detainees became meaningless to them, they began to enjoy torturing them.”
His mother attempted to speak for her son’s difficult detention conditions to state officials as well as to all national and international human rights organisations, but she faced tremendous pressure, forcing her to shut down her social media accounts and stop communicating with any parties. All information regarding Khaled was subsequently halted, but confidential sources confirmed that his detention and health conditions are abhorrent.
Joining the chorus of voices demanding the release of conscience prisoners, Together for Justice also demands the immediate commencement of an investigation into all the human rights violations to which they have been subjected, beginning with their arbitrary detention outside the legal basis, and the prosecution of those found guilty.
The right group also emphasizes how crucial it is that the international community step in quickly to put pressure on the Saudi authorities to examine the records of prisoners of conscience and to launch open, sincere, and transparent investigations into all the abuses to which they have been subjected.
