ALQST confirms new details about the torture of female activists in Saudi prisons, as British MPs seek to visit them in prison and investigate.
Update (January 10, 2019): ALQST confirms new details about the torture of female activists in Saudi prisons, as British MPs seek to visit and investigate them.
ALQST welcomes the announcement made on January 2, 2019, by a cross-party parliamentary group of British lawmakers and international lawyers requesting to visit detained Saudi female activists in Saudi prisons to review their detention and health conditions. This announcement follows reports from ALQST and other human rights organizations confirming their torture.
In November 2018, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch confirmed that several Saudi human rights activists, including several women, had been subjected to sexual harassment, torture, and other abuses during interrogation since their arbitrary arrest in May 2018. According to these separate testimonies, officials at Dhahban Prison tortured detained activists with electric shocks and floggings, leaving some with difficulty walking, trembling hands, and visible signs of torture on their bodies.
ALQST also confirmed that activists Samar Badawi, Shadan Al-Enezi, Aziza Al-Yousef, Eman Al-Nafjan, Loujain Al-Hathloul, Nouf Abdulaziz Al-Dosari, Abdulaziz Al-Meshaal, Mohammed Al-Bajadi, and Yasser Al-Ayyaf had been subjected to severe and brutal torture and sexual harassment.
All were arrested in raids on their homes, where flashlights were shone and guns were pointed at them. Loujain Al-Hathloul was terrifyingly taken from her bed in a bedroom in her father’s house in Riyadh. Samar Badawi remained in the street from 1:00 a.m. until 3:00 a.m., carrying her four-year-old daughter, Jude, under guard, bright lights, and weapons pointed at her while she stood and held her child. This was until activist Waleed Abu al-Khair’s mother (Jude’s grandmother) arrived and took the child away.
At least one of the women was photographed naked and the photo was displayed on the table in front of her during interrogation. At least one of the women was subjected to physical sexual harassment by female prison guards, beaten, and groped in sensitive areas. At least one of the women was completely stripped naked in front of several interrogators and groped in sensitive areas while handcuffed. She was asked mocking questions such as, “Who will protect you now?”, “Where are the human rights organizations for you?”, and “Where are the human rights defenders to help you?” Another was told, “Where is your God to protect you?”
The women were beaten on their legs (called a falaqa) and subjected to electric shocks. Two of the women were ordered to kiss each other on the lips, and when they refused, they were brutally flogged. Three of them bore clear signs of severe torture, including bruises around their eyes, trembling, and significant weight loss.
On at least two occasions, Saud al-Qahtani was seen in the torture chambers. Al-Qahtani, a close advisor to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, told at least one of the detainees: “I will do whatever I want to you, and then I will dissolve your body and flush it down the toilet!”
At least one of the women was subjected to psychological torture, being told that a family member had died and that they were eager to conclude her interrogation so she could see his body before burial.
Authorities used one woman’s father to film videos against her to discredit her. Another was used to testify against his daughter, demonstrating his bias toward the authorities even after he learned she had been tortured. The torture site was called a “hotel” or an “officers’ guest house.”
Activists Amal al-Harbi, Nassima al-Sadah, Mayya al-Zahrani, and Abeer Namankani were also arrested during the same arrest campaign, but ALQST cannot confirm whether they were tortured. There are also other female activists in prison, and the public prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against one of them (Israa al-Ghomgham). Male activists have also been tortured, and the prosecution is seeking the death penalty against them.
After Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch published reports on some of these allegations last November, Saudi authorities quickly denied them. However, in mid-December, Saudi officials hinted that the Saudi Human Rights Commission had begun investigating the torture allegations. ALQST notes that even if this were true, the commission—which is supposedly a non-governmental body but reports directly to King Salman—is not independent of the Saudi authorities and cannot conduct a credible investigation.
Yahya Assiri, head of ALQST, said: “We cannot rely on the authorities, who are themselves implicated in this systematic torture, to investigate these allegations and put an end to this practice. There is an urgent need for a fully independent investigation and for those allegedly involved to be held accountable.”
On January 2, 2019, a group of MPs and international lawyers, calling themselves the “Detention Review Team,” announced that they had sent a letter to the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom requesting a visit to the detained activists. They requested the embassy’s assistance in organizing a visit to the prison to review the women’s detention conditions, along with permission to conduct an independent medical assessment of their health. The group’s chairman, MP Crispin Blunt, a former chair of the House of Commons International Relations Association, a former Under-Secretary of State for Prisons, and vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Saudi Arabia, said:
“No one should be subjected to the treatment these activists are alleged to have experienced in detention. The consequences of the detention and torture of activists for exercising their freedom of expression and peaceful campaigning concern all individuals seeking to exercise their human rights in Saudi Arabia.” ALQST calls on the Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the women activists, along with others detained for their peaceful expression of opinions or advocacy for human rights, whether individually or collectively.
We also urge the Saudi authorities to allow a prompt, impartial, and effective investigation, such as that proposed by the Detention Review Panel, into allegations of torture of women’s rights activists, and we anticipate the establishment of other committees. All those alleged to be involved must be tried in a fair trial and sentenced in a manner commensurate with the gravity of their actions.
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