Prestigious European award for association opposed to Saudi regime
The Saudi Society for Civil and Political Rights (HACCM) won a prestigious European human rights award for a new highlight of violations of the Saudi regime.
The Dutch “Gozenbening” Foundation awarded its most important human rights prize to the “Hasm” Association for its great efforts and sacrifices in the field of human rights.
The Jassem Association was subjected to the full persecution of the Saudi authorities, who arrested all its founders and confiscated their properties in accordance with the decision issued by the Criminal Court in Riyadh in 2013.
A ceremony was held yesterday, Friday, in the big church in the city of Vlaardingen, Netherlands, and the award was received by the President of the Al-Qast Foundation for Human Rights, Yahya Asiri, on behalf of Muhammad Fahd al-Qahtani, who is detained by the Saudi authorities.
The awarding organization stated in a statement that it allocated the human rights award this year to the Society to resolve “its courageous positions that deserve praise”, and considered it one of the few societies in the Kingdom that since its inception in 2009 focused on human rights and urged the regime to grant more necessary freedoms, and “for this it is today, it pays a heavy price after arresting its founders.”
The statement said that the Hessam Association frequently urged Saudi youth to raise awareness, and raised the file of political detainees and demanded the release of them and provide them with legal assistance.
The statement included testimony from within the Saudi prisons to one of the founders of the Hism Society, in which he said, “even if we remain in prisons for 15 years or twenty years, we will not tire, in exchange for the Saudi people not living with closed mouths, and granting more freedoms.”
Kathleen Ferrer, president of the Gozenbenning Foundation, said that the Hessam Association deserves this award merit because of its human rights sacrifices and the challenge of the great repression it is facing.
The Guosenbeing Foundation is a Dutch human rights institution, founded by veterans who participated in the Second World War, and since 1987 it has awarded the “Gozen” award to organizations that fight in the field of human rights, and pay a heavy price for it.
Asiri praised during the press conference the award and the awarding institution, and expressed his great appreciation to them, reviewing the reality of human rights in Saudi Arabia, where “the Saudi authorities arrested a number of Saudi activists and subjected to sexual abuse.”
Asiri stressed that the activity of the Foundation will proceed in full swing despite the detention of the Saudi authorities to the founders of the association, because it is an organization that calls for freedom, dignity and improving the reality of human rights, no more, and this honor that is today is only the greatest evidence of the continuity of the Foundation’s work.
He explained that he “does not fear the fate of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by his country’s consulate in Istanbul, but at the same time takes this matter seriously, because the Saudi regime has recently been liquidating or arresting opponents of his rule.” He said that he will continue to work and activity despite all the concerns.
