Saudi Authorities Must Stop Harassing Detainees’ Families
Together for Justice strongly condemned the repressive practices of the Saudi security against the family of the Palestinian detainee Dr. Mohamed Al-Khudari, which stormed his house and detained his wife for hours as a form of intimidation to stop raising his case in the media and human rights fields.
The Saudi security forces raided the house of Dr. Mohamed Al-Khudari, 83 years, in Jeddah and arrested his wife, Mrs. Wijdan, 70 years, and the wife of his son, Dr. Hani -who is also detained with him- and took them to a police station where they interrogated them for hours before releasing them after forcing them to sign a pledge not to talk about the detainees’ condition.
According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the Saudi authorities “subjected Al-Khudari’s wife to investigation, photographed the house and searched it in a provocative manner, and confiscated her phone.”
“The Saudi security forced also informed them that the authorities were disturbed by the moves to demand the release of her husband, and hinted at the possibility of deporting the rest of the family as a punishment.”
The Together for Justice team described the behaviour of the Saudi security as being completely illegal and inhuman, as they did not respect their privacy or consider the old age of Mrs. Wijdan or her psychological state after arresting her husband and son and depriving them of their most basic rights.
Dr. Al-Khudari and his son Dr. Hani are among the dozens of Jordanian and Palestinian detainees inside Saudi Arabia, who have been arrested in a major arrest campaign since February 2019 on charges of “supporting the Palestinian people and rejecting the Israeli occupation.”.
Since then, they have been detained in cruel and inhuman conditions, subjected to torture and medical neglect, and deprived of their most basic legal rights.
It is worth noting that Dr. Al-Khudary’s health condition is continuously deteriorating, as he suffers from “chronic diseases, old age, and the detention conditions inside prisons have worsened his health condition, as Al-Khudary was going to periodic medical follow-up after undergoing surgery due to his precancerous tumors, before being detained.
The trial of Al-Khudari and the rest of the Jordanian and Palestinian detainees began about a year after their detention, and that mass trial was unfair and lacked any legal standards, especially as detainees were deprived of their rights to appoint a lawyer.
Together for Justice renewed its demand of the Saudi authorities to urgently release Al-Khudari and all Palestinian Jordanian detainees who did not commit any crime and their fault was only helping the poor Palestinian people supporting their cause against the brutal Israeli occupier.
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