Saudi Rights Defender Faces Slow Death in Saudi Prisons
Together for Justice is deeply concerned about the safety of political prisoner Hilal Hussein Al-Qurashi, who is facing a slow death in Al-Ha’ir prison in Riyadh due to medical negligence.
Al-Qurashi started suffering many health problems, including a sudden vision loss in one eye, diabetes, and chronic high blood pressure. Despite his difficult health situation, the prison authorities refused to provide him with adequate medical treatment or to improve his catastrophic detention conditions.
Al-Qurashi was arrested in April 2020 as part of a large-scale crackdown campaign that targeted a number of activists and journalists.
Al-Qurashi was given a four-year prison term after spending two years in arbitrary detention. Later, without a valid reason, the Specialized Criminal Court increased his prison term to 20 years.
Al-Qurashi had never committed a crime and had no desire to overthrow the government. His only “crime” was to present an economic initiative to boost Vision 2030 and the economy. But the young prince vehemently rejects any reform effort that he does not personally support.
Al-Qurashi served as the platform’s editor-in-chief for the nonprofit “Third Bank,” a knowledge-enrichment program that aims to enable the nonprofit sector to play a significant role in the Saudi Vision 2030. His intentions for reform were, however, viewed by the Saudi authorities as being too audacious and warranting legal action.
In this regard, we hold the Saudi authorities and Al-Ha’ir prison administration fully responsible for Al-Qurashi’s life.
We emphasize once more that suppressing reformist voices and restricting free speech will only bring the nation to its doom.
We implore the international community to take stern action against the Saudi regime as continued international silence only serves to legitimize more crimes and human rights abuses.
Furthermore, we demand that all political prisoners be released immediately. We also call on international organisations to launch immediate investigations into the human rights violations that have occurred in Saudi jails.
