Fears jailed Saudi blogger being tortured

Human rights organisation Amnesty International has expressed fears that jailed Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan is being tortured.

Lamri Chirouf, researcher at Amnesty International, told ArabianBusiness.com on Monday that the total secrecy surrounding Al-Farhan’s detention indicated that Al-Farhan was being mistreated.

“He is still being held, without charges and without access to a lawyer, a doctor or his wife. For someone to be held in secrecy like this, it is likely he is being ill-treated, interrogated or tortured. Why else would he be held in secrecy?” Chirouf said.

The popular internet blogger is reportedly being held at Dhaban Prison in Jeddah following his arrest on December 10.

The Ministry of Interior acknowledged his detention on December 31, but the reason for his arrest was not specified.

Al-Farhan’s blog - Searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, shoura and all the rest of lost Islamic values - has posted a letter, allegedly from Al-Farhan, which states he believes he was arrested because he “wrote about political prisoners in Saudi Arabia”.

Authorities are believed to be holding Al-Farhan for his online criticism of government policies, including detentions without charge or trial of prisoners of conscience.

These criticisms include the government’s ongoing detention of nine men arrested in February last year after calling for government reform.

Al-Farhan’s detention is believed to be the first arrest of an online critic in the kingdom.

Chirouf said the pattern of Al-Farhan’s arrest and detention, including the lack of charges and no access to visitors, was common in Saudi Arabia.

“This is a pattern we have documented over the years in Saudi. The nine Saudi reformists who are still in prison for suggesting reforms were allowed access to visitors only after five months,” he said.

Chirouf said Amnesty had sent appeals for his release to various Saudi leaders, but were yet to receive a response.

“We believe people who are being held for the non-violent expression of their consciously held beliefs should be released immediately and unconditionally and without delay," he said.

“It’s very difficult to say what will happen to Al-Farhan. He has not been charged and cannot challenge the legality of his detention or defend himself. This is a pattern of behaviour toward critics in Saudi. He could wait years without a trial.”

Even if charges were laid against Al-Farhan, due to the high level of concealment of the Saudi Arabian justice system, the trial would be likely to be held in secrecy behind closed doors, Chirouf said.

“Defendants are often denied the right to formal representation by a lawyer and in many cases they are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them," he added.

"In the rare instances when individuals are charged and brought to trial, the proceedings invariably fail to meet the most elementary standards of fairness."

Saudi Arabia recently announced the implementation new laws for controlling the use of technology for terrorism, fraud, pornography, defamation, violating religious values and disregarding public etiquette.

The new information technology law contains 16 articles and allow the government to impose a maximum penalty of 10 years and a 5 million-Saudi riyal fine for persons found guilty of running websites in support of terrorist organisations.