Saudi Arabia has detained a 26-year-old human rights activist for the second time this year on October 2 near the town of Safwa in the Eastern part of of the country. According to London-based Amnesty International, Fadhel Maki al-Manasif has not had access to a lawyer and his family has been barred from visiting him in custody. According to Amnesty, the activist is “at risk of torture” and other violations as a result of his continued detention. “The Saudi Arabian authorities seem determined to stamp out any form of dissent in the country,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa “Details of any charges Fadhel Maki al-Manasif faces must be disclosed. If he has been detained simply for his peaceful human rights work, he should be released immediately and unconditionally,” she said. The 26-year-old has been voiceful in pushing human rights concerns forward, including the treatment of members of the country's Shiite minority, who have been increasingly coming under attack from the government. According to rights groups researching the case, Manasif has monitored cases of discrimination and detention of the minority religious group, who have often been held without charges or trials for years. “Amnesty International believes he may be a prisoner of conscience, held solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression,” said the group in a press release. The activist is being detained at the General Intelligence Prison in Dammam. He was allowed to make a short phone call to his family once on October 10 to inform them of his place of detention, but has since not had any access to the outside world, said Amnesty. Torture or other ill-treatment are frequently used to extract “confessions” from detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent”, or to force them to make undertakings not to criticize the government. Incommunicado detention in Saudi Arabia often lasts until a “confession” is obtained, which can take months or years. BM
