The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) expresses concern over the Saudi Ministry of Interior’s order that allows some security forces to use excessive force against citizens on car drifting/show crowd, protests and chases.
Throughout ESOHR follow-up of some events where killings were caused by members of the Saudi security forces, there were not any legal justifications for the use of excessive violence.
In April 21 of 2015, Abdullah Al Ramadan was killed by the police when he was in an armature car drifting/show crowd watching. A Police car arrived nearby the site and began to shoot where the crowd thought police were casually shooting into the air to disperse them, but they were surprised when they saw a police officer shooting horizontally at the crowd, which caused to kill Al Ramadan and wounded several others.
Six days after the killing and even time of writing this report, it is unclear of whether or not the government represented by the Ministry of Interior has taken any legal action against the officer as a fair and public trial or held him accountable for the killing of Al Ramadan. His body is still in the morgue of the Qatif Central Hospital eastern Saudi Arabia and this means that the legal process is not going in such an accountable and transparent manner.
This is not the first homicide caused by security men. During the past few years, there have been many incidents where individuals affiliated with the Ministry of Interior were the main cause of the killing. It has been noted that the government’s behavior tends to promote impunity as it is never occurred to the general public where police officers were held responsible for their murder cases in prisons, which could caused by a variety of reasons, including: torture, killings during peaceful protests and corruption. Such an issue led the human rights defender Mohammed Al Bejadi, who was sentenced to 10-year in 03/05/2015, to stood and defend (Sultan Mohammed Abdo Al Doais 32 years old a Yemeni national) who is known for being killed due to torture in the General Investigation Directorate’s prison. The responsible for the disaster (Jeddah Floods November 25, 2009), which claimed the lives of more than 100 and injured more than 300 people, haven’t been prosecuted or held accountable for the enormous human and material losses caused by the disaster. Moreover, Jeddah Floods’ case was one of the issues which was highlighted by the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), which got disestablished and its members are being jailed and prosecuted.
Based on (Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions) approved under the United Nations resolution in December 1989, Article 9: (There shall be thorough, prompt and impartial investigation of all suspected cases of extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions, including cases where complaints by relatives or other reliable reports suggest unnatural death in the above circumstances), and Article 18: (Governments shall ensure that persons identified by the investigation as having participated in extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions in any territory under their jurisdiction are brought to justice), the ESOHR calls the Saudi government to begin soon the investigation process of the eyewitnesses crime by the hundreds of people gathering at the car show plus photos/videos that documented a police officer shooting at unarmed people, which caused the killing of Al Ramadan. We in the ESOHR calls for a fair and a public trial that grants the victims legal rights without pressure or impact on them.