On 26 February, Mai Al-Talak joined a group of women in the central city of Buraidah to protest against the detention of her husband Abdel-Malek Al-Mukbel for 13 years without due process. Another woman protester, Tahani Al-Razni, was protesting against the detention of her brother, Faleh, for seven years without trial, demanding an investigation into the killing of her brother, Khaled, while in detention. The two women were among 161 demonstrators whose protest in Buraidah against oppressive security police cost them their freedom. A video showing the women protesters setting fire to a picture of Interior Minister Mohamed bin Nayef while screaming “Allahu akbar” (God is great) provoked the Saudi police, which rounded up the women and detained them. The move triggered a wave of discontent and anger among the country's political activists and reform advocates against women detention. “There are no legal or moral justifications to arrest women who went out to demand the release of relatives detained for years without trial,” said Saudi activist Essam Al-Zameil. Saudi authorities did what they know best; a fresh round of arrests of political activists and bloggers whom the authorities hold primarily responsible for what they claim is a “misuse of social media to make families protest”. On Saturday, 9 March, the Saudi police arrested activists Abdallah Al-Hamed and Mohamed Al-Kahtani on charges of stirring sedition and disseminating false information. Two days earlier, these charges were anticipated by an Interior Ministry spokesman who said that activists — whom he did not name — had tried to stir up unrest by spreading “false information” on social media sites. The activists' association, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, known as Hasm, was dissolved by court ruling the same day. Hasm is the only local group working to defend the rights of political prisoners. It works independently, collecting testimonies from prisoners' families and providing them with necessary legal aid. Saudi activists and human rights advocates argue that the crisis of imprisonment in the kingdom is more serious today than it has ever been. “The plight of political prisoners, whether being made to endure arbitrary detention or to suffer in the complete absence of due process, continues into its third decade unimpeded,” wrote one Saudi activist. A day before his arrest, Al-Kahtani said that the year 2013 should witness a breakthrough in “exposing the tyrannical and oppressive system in the kingdom”. The Saudi government has been using various tactics to silence opposition, including detention for long periods without due process as well as travel and employment bans. While there is no exact information on the number of detainees in Saudi prisons, Saudi officials set the figure at no more than 8000 while Saudi activists say the number has reached 30,000 detainees, three times the official capacity of Saudi prisons. Spokesperson for the Interior Ministry Major-General Mansour Al-Turki admitted to holding 5,000 political prisoners in prisons across the country. Protests by families against the detention of relatives has become a weekly occurrence across the country since 2011, including in Jeddah, Al-Kasim and even the capital Riyadh and in front of Interior Ministry offices. In March 2011, the Interior Ministry issued a ban on public protest. But the issue has taken centre stage in public debate about reform in the kingdom with writers known to be close to power circles calling for a settlement. The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, has been engaged in a minds and hearts campaign, commissioning a number of Saudi journalists to write Op-eds favourable to the ministry. One Saudi writer was given a tour of Saudi prisoners across the country, his conclusion being that “some cells are like five-star hotel rooms.” Writing in Saudi daily Al-Watan, writer Abdel-Aziz Kasim dismissed as “baseless” social media reports about the miserable state of Saudi prisoners. Kasim was one of an army of Saudi journalists commissioned by the ministry to polish its public image following media reports about torture and mistreatment of Saudi political prisoners. In reports, Kasim and others say that most of those imprisoned are extremists who, if allowed out of prison, would happily commit atrocities against society. In January, the religious establishment entered the fray when more than 100 Saudi scholars wrote to King Abdullah, pressing him to address the issue swiftly. But it was that same institution that in March 2011 issued a ban on protests. The Saudi Arabian Council of Senior Scholars, headed by Grand Mufti Abdel-Aziz Al-Sheikh, issued its fatwa, stating “it is illegal to issue statements and take signatures for the purposes of intimidation and inciting strife.” The fatwa included a “severe threat against internal dissent”. Such moves, however, did not sway detainees' families from continuing with their protests. A 2011 report entitled “Saudi Political Prisoners: a third decade of silence” disclosed shocking information about what it called the “plight of prisoners of conscience”. Published by the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), the report pointed out that in the absence of checks and balances, the legal system remains immune to reform, despite the passing of two major legal codes by a royal decree several years ago: the Criminal Procedures Code and the Sharia Hearings Code. “The Ministry of Interior and its special investigation department exercise absolute power in arrests, detention, and the passing of sentences. This is further complicated by the lack of written penal code and the use of arbitrary and subjective sanctions,” the report said. The report went on to explain that prisoners of conscience are routinely accused with the ready-made charge of inciting the public against the government and allegiance with foreign entities. Such serious charges, the report points out, are usually stretched to encompass acts like raising funds for charities, requesting a peaceful demonstration for a local or international cause, raising petitions for social and political reforms, organising private meetings or assemblies, contacting foreign media, or even defending prisoners of conscience. Some Saudi activists remained hopeful as they marked the second anniversary of the first wave of protest in the country on 11 March 2011. Activist and human rights advocate Fouad Ibrahim pointed out in a recent article that as the second anniversary of the first wave of public protests approaches, Saudi authorities have been braced, responding with vast security arrangements. “It is clearly a sign of how fearful they are of the implications of protests on the future of the Saudi state,” Ibrahim wrote. On another level, the religious establishment has been sending instructions through its network of mosques across the country (estimated at 80,000) to remind the people of the fatwa issued banning protest against the state. This has been also coupled with financial hand-outs. “For the first time in decades, the balance of power is in favour of society against the state,” said Ibrahim. The Interior Ministry's frustration with social media as reflected in the words of its spokesperson indicates the significant role such tools play in setting the agenda for public debate. Statistics suggest that in the kingdom there are three million people using Twitter while six million are on Facebook. Such sites, argue activists, have also proved effective in terms of mobilising and rallying protesters. Many believe that social media sites have offered a space for oppressed forces in society to express their aspirations and views. “The state is clearly losing its battle against society because the relationship between the citizen and authorities has changed forever thanks to the Arab Spring,” Ibrahim concludes.
