Thousands of prisoners in jail without charge, children sentenced to death and oppression of women. In a report issued on 17 February, a commission from Human Rights Watch (HRW) detailed serious violations of human rights in Saudi trials and prisons.
During a four-week mission in December, the team observed trials and visited jails, even if under 24-hour “surveillance” and with several limitations. It was able to ascertain that the secret police held thousands of detainees without trial for political reasons, without bringing them before a court, although Article 114 of the Criminal Procedure Code requires that detention without charge cannot exceed six months. The accused often do not have a lawyer and even if they do, it is difficult for the defence to have access to their charge sheet. Trials are usually held behind closed doors although Article 155 of the Code stipulates they should be public. The court of Jiddah did not allow the commission to observe trials. HRW said many sentences were based on minimal evidence and judges often did not write the verdict down, as happened in the political trials of those charged with revolting in Najran in 2000.
Children are jailed for minor offences, even for violating "morals". In prison they are beaten and kept in solitary confinement. Thirteen-year-old children have been sentenced to death because they were considered to be “mature”. But HRW was unable to discover what they had done. Worse still was the situation of women, often subject to constant male guardianship.
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