The Islamic Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned over the imprisonment of human rights activist Dr. Mubarak Aal-Zuair. He was jailed for appealing for the release of many detainees currently being held illegally in Saudi jails. Many detainees in Saudi Arabia are denied the right to a trial, or the right to an attorney, and end up languishing in prison for many years. Dr. Mubarak has managed to have a letter of his smuggled from prison. In this letter, he provides an account of the severity of the punishment he faces, and requests that immediate action is taken against his illegal detention. Dr. Mubarak Aal-Zuair, 45 years old, was arrested on 20th March 2011, after having appealed at the Ministry of Interior on behalf of the families of detainees calling for their release. Dr. Mubarak, along with the families of the detainees, had attempted to organise a meeting at the Ministry of Interior to request the application of Article 114 of the Code of Criminal Procedures, which specifies that the maximum period of detention can only be six months. After this period, detainees are required by law to be either referred to a court for trial, or released. They were forced to remain outside the Ministry awaiting permission to enter – which was never granted. Later, Dr. Mubarak received a phone call from Deputy Minister of Interior, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, who set an appointment to meet him the following Friday under the condition that the crowds be dispersed. He passed this message on, and the crowd was dispersed. During the meeting, Prince Nayef guaranteed that the release of the detainees in question would shortly follow, and that he was permitted to deliver this message to the families of detainees. As he travelled to the Ministry of Interior the following morning to inform the families of the outcome of this meeting, he was stopped, searched and handcuffed without charge. The police failed to present him with an arrest warrant, and refused to let him contact his family or lawyer. Dr. Mubarak was also later denied visitations. He was then interrogated by police officers. On 22nd March 2011 he was transferred to Al-Malaz police station and placed under solitary confinement inside a toilet cubicle, with nothing on the floor to sleep on, and barely any room to stand. He was kept in these inhuman and unsanitary conditions despite suffering from medical conditions that require special care. He wrote: “some people abuse their authority and exploit their positions within the security apparatus to violate human rights, and degrade their sense of humanity in the most harsh and despicable fashion.” He called for immediate action to be taken to ensure that he is released, and that those responsible for his illegal detention are brought to justice. Dr. Mubarak is a highly esteemed assistant professor at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University, and a researcher specialised in new media studies. IHRC
