At the request of the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, Dr. Claudia Mahler, ESOHR provided input ahead of her visit to Saudi Arabia:
Legal, institutional and policy frameworks that support the human rights of older people
Article 27 of Saudi Arabia's Basic Law of Governance stipulates that: “The state guarantees the right of the citizen and his family in case of emergency, sickness, disability, and old age, supports the social security system, and encourages institutions and individuals to contribute to charitable works.” This text reflects the state's commitment to care for the elderly. Article 31 of the same law also stipulates that “The state shall take care of public health and provide health care for every citizen,” which guarantees the provision of health services for the elderly.
The Kingdom has issued a special system for the elderly, the Elderly Rights and Welfare System, which aims to protect the rights of the elderly and provide them with the necessary care. In addition, it issued the executive regulations of the Protection from Abuse Law to ensure that the elderly are protected from mistreatment and abuse. The law stipulates that an “elderly person” is anyone who is 60 years of age or older.
In addition, the elderly can apply for long-term care through the registration application service for care homes for the elderly[1] , as these homes aim to shelter and care for every male or female citizen aged sixty and over who is unable to handle his or her own affairs and whose family and relatives do not have the means to do so, in addition to caring for the sick and elderly who have no provider and are referred from hospitals, provided they are free of infectious and mental illnesses. These homes provide governmental residential care, which includes social, medical and psychological care. They offer a variety of activities such as cultural, vocational, recreational and sports activities. These programs and activities are supervised by a staff comprising all specialties to carry out the services entrusted to them to serve the residents of the home.
The situation of older persons in relation to their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights
Reports indicate that older people in Saudi Arabia face multiple challenges related to their civil, political, economic and social rights, including violence and abuse in some cases.
Violence and abuse::
Reports of abuse and violence against the elderly have increased in some cases, especially among elderly detainees, as ill-treatment and torture is a common practice in Saudi prisons and the elderly are not spared:
- Salman al-Awda (December 14, 1956) , currently 68 years old, was arrested by Saudi Arabia in 2017, and prosecutors are calling for his death after charging him with thirty-seven charges, including: Turning society against the rulers, seeking repeated corruption, associating with personalities and organizations affiliated with the Brotherhood, and calling for change in the Saudi government.
Reports confirm that he was subjected to torture, as he was denied his right to medical treatment and even his right to sleep, as he was interrogated for days on end without a wink of sleep, and his hands and feet were tied and thrown into a solitary confinement cell with his eyes closed, then food was thrown to him in small bags while he was still tied, and he was forced to open them with his mouth until his teeth were cut at one point. He is still in solitary confinement today.
- Awad al-Qarni: (1957), , over 66 years old. Arrested in 2017, the public prosecution is demanding his death on charges including creating social media accounts, participating in WhatsApp conversations and posting videos in which he praised the Muslim Brotherhood.
UN special rapporteurs have confirmed that his detention involved numerous violations and ill-treatment, including months of solitary confinement and no contact with the outside world. For years, he has been detained without a judicial verdict.
Arbitrary arrests::
Reports confirm that Saudi Arabia is arresting a number of elderly people on a variety of grounds, some of which are related to their political activities or their relatives' opposition activities.
In March 2018, sixty-year-old Aida al-Ghamdi was arrested, and the official media spread rumors about the charges against her, including plotting to destabilize the country's security. Al-Ghamdi spent months in solitary confinement and remains in detention, likely in retaliation for her son's political activism.
In May 2018, Ms. Aziza al-Yousef (b. 1950), an academic and women's rights advocate, was arrested. In 2013, Dr. Ali al-Haji (b. 1949) was arrested on charges of spying for Iran.
Since 2016, Sheikh Hussein al-Radi (1951), , has been in prison after being sentenced to 13 years for opposing the Saudi government over the war on Yemen and denouncing the execution of social justice advocate Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. During his years of detention, Sheikh al-Radi was subjected to violations in prison, including denial of medical treatment and hospitalization.
Death in prison:
Despite the lack of transparency in official Saudi dealings, the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) has monitored several cases of deaths in Saudi prisons in recent years of elderly people:
- Abdullah al-Hamid: (July 12, 1950):
On April 24, 2020, at the age of 70, human rights defender Dr. Abdullah Al-Hamid died after a series of medical negligence in detention. Al-Hamid was one of the most prominent founders of the Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), and was arrested several times for his human rights activism and demands for reform. In September 2018, Al-Hamid, along with his comrade Dr. Mohammed al-Qahtani and activist Waleed Abu al-Khair, won the Right Livelihood Award, known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”, and in March 2020, he won, along with his comrades in ACPRA, the most prominent human rights award in the Netherlands, known as the Joozen Benning Prize.
The information indicated that al-Hamid had been transferred from al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh, where he has been detained since 2013, to intensive care on April 9, 2020, after suffering a brain stroke and entering a coma, as he was “suffering from a deteriorating health condition, after which he was hospitalized more than three months ago, and the doctor told him at the time that he urgently needed to perform a heart catheterization operation.”
Despite this, the Saudi authorities returned him to prison in difficult health conditions and subjected him to psychological pressure, as he was prevented from communicating and visiting with his family several times. He was additionally denied the ability to inform his family or anyone abroad about his health.
Al-Hamid was arrested in March 2013, after being sentenced to 11 years in prison and an 11-year travel ban, on charges including co-founding an unlicensed association.
- Musa bin Muhammad al-Qarni (1954):[2] Musa bin Muhammad al-Qarni (1954):[2][2]
On the morning of October 10, 2021, at the age of 67, Al-Qarni was found dead in his cell at Dhahban Prison in Jeddah, with other prisoners reportedly implicated in his murder. On October 14, 2021, Dr. Al-Qarni's body was returned to his family. The body allegedly bore signs of torture, including two broken ribs.
The UN human rights experts held the Saudi government responsible for Al-Qarni's death in prison and noted that the information they received confirmed that Al-Qarni's killing involved several violations of international law. Since 2007, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has deemed his detention to be arbitrary and called for his release.
While deprived of his liberty, Dr. al-Qarni was subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including beatings, solitary confinement and placement in cells with other potentially extremist detainees, who beat him for his reformist views and civic engagement.
The letter noted that al-Qarni was forcibly transferred to a psychiatric hospital, given inappropriate medication, and systematically denied adequate medical care, even when he suffered a stroke in May 2018. They noted that the information made it clear that Dr. al-Qarni's cause of death was not natural but the result of trauma, including to the face and head. Despite this information, a thorough investigation into the death has yet to be conducted to determine the cause and circumstances of Dr. Al-Qarni's death.
Adnan Shraideh:
A Jordanian citizen (June 1, 1963), he was arrested in February 2017 and charged with drug trafficking. He was sentenced to death by ta'zira in February 2019. During his detention, he suffered a stroke that led to paralysis and speech impairment, and a heart attack that led to his hospitalization. His family asked for a pardon or a lifting of the sentence due to his health condition, but they did not receive a response. In December 2024, at the age of 61, after spending seven years in prison in very difficult conditions, he died in prison. His body was not handed over to his family.
Cross and aging:
In terms of cross-discrimination, non-Saudi older people suffer from discrimination in access to care and social services. Most services are restricted to Saudi nationals, leaving older people of other nationalities marginalized and deprived of basic services. The Elderly Protection Law perpetuates discrimination against foreign elderly, restricting access to care homes and government services to Saudi nationals.
Conclusion:
Saudi Arabia practices widespread arbitrary detention, not sparing the elderly, who have difficulty coping and accessing their rights inside prisons.
The lack of transparency in the Saudi government's handling of the detainees' file prevents access to sufficient information on age and charges, but data indicates that the number of detainees in the elderly category is large.
The European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights recommends::
- Seek information about the number of detainees in prison, their ages, and their charges.
- Ensure a safe environment within prisons for elderly detainees, so that they are not subjected to any form of harm, mistreatment, or other violations.
- Demand transparent investigations into all deaths in prisons, especially those that may be the result of medical negligence or mistreatment of the elderly.
- Ensure that the Kingdom's policies and regulations are fair and inclusive for all residents without discrimination.
- Work to develop policies to prevent double punishment, so that detainees do not spend long years in prison without a sentence before being sentenced to death.
- Ensuring the rights of elderly death row inmates, as international laws stipulate that the death penalty must be carried out in a way that ensures minimal suffering, which is not in line with the reality of elderly patients in prisons.
[1] https://www.hrsd.gov.sa/care-elderly
[2] https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=26797