The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, along with 13 other non-governmental organisations, signed a letter sent to the embassies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Berlin, Washington, London, Paris, and Geneva, and the official Human Rights Commission, requesting it to seek disclosure of the whereabouts of Human rights defender Mohammed al-Qahtani and his immediate release.
The letter indicated that al-Qahtani has been subjected to enforced disappearance since October 24, 2022, and that there is a grave concern for his safety. In addition, al-Qahtani a prominent human rights defender and academic has been arbitrarily detained since 2013. He has been denied any family contact since October 24, and the Saudi authorities have refused to provide any information about him.
The letter stated that al-Qahtani's wife contacted the prison to inquire about his whereabouts, and the prison guard told her that he had been transferred to another prison, and the prison officials refused to reveal the whereabouts of Dr. al-Qahtani.
The organisations confirmed that the family suspects that the authorities did not allow him to contact them as a punishment for filing a complaint about the repeated assaults he was subjected to in Al-Ha'ir prison by prisoners suffering from psychological problems, and the authorities placed them in the same ward.
The letter indicated that similar cases had previously led to deaths that could have been entirely avoided like the death of Musa Al-Qarni, who was horrifically killed by an inmate in Dhahban prison in October 2021. Dr al-Qahtani had been beaten in May 2022 by another inmate. In his ward, in the middle of 2021, one of the prisoners in the ward tried to start a fire.
Al-Qahtani, a founding member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) and a professor at the Institute for Diplomatic Studies, is serving a 10-year prison sentence on charges related to his peaceful human rights work. On September 4, 2015, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention confirmed that Dr Al-Qahtani's detention is arbitrary and called for his release.
The signatories made it clear that there is a worrying new trend, as the Saudi government continues to detain some prisoners of conscience beyond the end of their sentences or it intends to re-try them and increase the sentences issued against them.
The letter considered that the Saudi government should be urged to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Dr Muhammad Al-Qahtani and to release him immediately and unconditionally, and in the meantime, the authorities must ensure that he is allowed to contact his family without any delay.