The Prisoners of Conscience tweeter account revealed new arrests of prominent academics in Saudi Arabia without legal basis or clear charges.
The human rights account confirmed that the Saudi authorities arrested the famous reciter, Abdullah Basfar, a professor at the Department of Sharia and Islamic Studies at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, and former Secretary-General of the World Book and Sunnah Organization, last August.
The account pointed out that the Saudi authorities arrested, last March, the academic Saud Al-Fanisan, the former dean of the Faculty of Sharia at Al-Imam University in Riyadh.
Since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman assumed the position of Crown Prince in June 2017, he launched a widespread campaign of arrests that included many human rights activists, journalists, businessmen, and preachers.
The Saudi authorities have arrested thousands of citizens, on the grounds of political opinions and human rights demands, in addition to a group who were arrested despite they have never said anything about public affairs.
Prisoners of conscience in are subject to deliberate neglect and not being allowed to take medicines regularly, as is the case with Salman al-Awda and Awad al-Qarni.
The Crown Prince has turned the kingdom’s prisons into human slaughterhouses and mass graves. Those who enter it are subjected to the worst forms of torture and abuse, to the point of death as a result of ill-treatment and medical negligence.
Many prisoners of conscience died in prison since Muhammad bin Salman came to power, including: Sheikh Fahad Al-Qadi, Sheikh Suleiman Al-Duwaish, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ammari, the writer Turki Al-Jasser, Major General Ali Al-Qahtani, the popular artist Muhammad Bani Al-Ruwaili, the young Hassan Al-Rabeh, Sheikh Saleh Al-Dumairi, Ahmed Al-Shaya, Bashir Al-Mutlaq, and Muhammad Rasb Al-Hasawi.
It is believed that there are other names that may have passed away that the authorities did not reveal their death.