Amnesty says Saudi activists beaten, tortured in detention
Source: Associated Press
Aya Batrawy, Associated Press
Updated 2:04 pm CST, Tuesday, November 20, 2018
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Several activists imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since May, including a number of women who campaigned for the right to drive, have been beaten and tortured during interrogation, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia has detained at least 10 women and seven men on vague national security allegations related to their human rights work. Those detained include Loujain al-Hathloul, Eman al-Nafjan and Aziza al-Yousef, who had campaigned for the right to drive before the decades-long ban was lifted in June.
Amnesty said that according to three testimonies it obtained, some of the activists were repeatedly tortured by electrocution and flogging, leaving some unable to walk or stand properly. In one instance, an activist was hung from the ceiling. Another testimony said one of the detained women was subjected to sexual harassment by interrogators wearing face masks.
The kingdom is at the center of an international firestorm after the brutal killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who had written critically about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's crackdown on dissent, including the arrests of the women activists. Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered by Saudi agents in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Amnesty-says-Saudi-activists-beaten-tortured-in-13408793.php
muriel_volestrangler
(101,383 posts)Unfortunately, for the current US regime, that's a bit of a recommendation.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Saudi Arabia is a brutal dictatorship. Add professional torturer 'for profit' Team to quell 'protest'= more torture that doesn't leave marks.
riversedge
(70,321 posts)November 21, 2018 12:00AM EST
Saudi Arabia: Detained Women Reported Tortured
Alleged Electric Shocks, Whippings by Masked Interrogators
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/11/21/saudi-arabia-detained-women-reported-tortured
(Beirut) Informed sources say that Saudi interrogators tortured at least three of the Saudi women activists detained beginning in May 2018, Human Rights Watch said today. The reports allege that torture by Saudi authorities included administering electric shocks, whipping the women on their thighs, and forcible hugging and kissing, Human Rights Watch said today. The sources were concerned that they and the activists would suffer reprisals if the women were identified publicly.
Saudi Arabia should immediately credibly investigate the allegations of abuse in detention. The authorities should publicly guarantee the safety of all detained activists, allow the detained women unfettered access to lawyers and family members, provide evidence of their well-being, and release those jailed solely for peacefully advocating reform. Saudi Arabias allies, and major car companies, should call on Saudi authorities to unconditionally release womens rights activists detained for their role in the right to drive campaign and for advocating other freedoms.
Any brutal torture of Saudi women activists would show no limit to the Saudi authorities campaign of wanton cruelty against critics and human rights activists, said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. Any government that tortures women for demanding basic rights should face withering international criticism, not unblinking US and UK support.
The sources say that masked Saudi interrogators tortured the women during the initial stages of interrogation, but it was unclear whether they were seeking to force the women to sign confessions or merely to punish them for their peaceful advocacy. Following the interrogations, sources said, the women showed physical signs of torture, including difficulty walking, uncontrolled shaking of the hands, and red marks and scratches on their faces and necks. At least one of the women attempted to commit suicide multiple times, the sources said.
The crackdown on women's rights activists began just weeks ahead of the much-anticipated lifting of the driving ban on women on June 24, a cause for which many of the detained activists had campaigned. While some were quickly released, others remain detained without charge. They include Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef, Eman al-Nafjan, Nouf Abdelaziz, Mayaa al-Zahrani, Samar Badawi, Nassima al-Saada, and Hatoon al-Fassi, all womens rights activists, as well as male supporters of the movement, including Ibrahim al-Modaimeegh, a lawyer; Abdulaziz Meshaal, a philanthropist; and Mohammed Rabea; a social activist.
Authorities accused several of those detained of serious crimes, including suspicious contact with foreign parties. Government-aligned media outlets have carried out an alarming smear campaign against them, branding them traitors. The Saudi newspaper Okaz reported that nine of those detained will be referred for trial to the Specialized Criminal Court, originally established to try detainees held in connection with terrorism offenses. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison.
The public media defamation campaign against the women contravened Saudi Arabias longstanding policy of not publishing names of criminal suspects in pre-trial detention. While the peaceful activists, with names and photos, were smeared and defamed, pro-government media have not identified the people arrested for their alleged involvement in Jamal Khashoggis murder...........................
Link to tweet
Mr. Bob Harris
(6 posts)but I've always been curious why there has never been a human rights group in the activism forums.
It's a bit sad as human rights shouldn't necessarily be the exclusive domain of the left as there was a time that conservatives actually cared about this (though had a different way of approaching it). However, with the new nihilist Pepe types taking over their party completely, it sadly has become so.