Saudi regime deepens its human rights violations
The Saudi regime responded to the human rights campaigns calling for the release of prisoners of conscience in light of the risk of the outbreak of the new coronavirus pandemic with a new campaign of arrests, devoting its policies based on the abuse of human rights violations in the Kingdom.
Activists described the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as “afflicted with a detention frenzy”, something that the Western media repeatedly refers to until it targets everyone who opposes it from near or far.
Human rights sources announced that the Saudi authorities launched new arrest campaigns against a number of media activists, writers, academics and students arbitrarily.
Among the detainees were a doctoral student, Majed Al-Ghamdi, and media activist Mohammed Al-Jedaie, media activist Mansour Al-Rugaiba, media activist Khaled Al-Shehri and university professor Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al-Duweesh.
And the legal community accused the Saudi regime of exploiting the preoccupation of local and international public opinion with the coronavirus crisis to carry out these arrests in a shameful reprisal behavior.
By April 2020, it has been almost a year for many activists and journalists to be arbitrarily arrested, including Abdullah al-Shehri, Reza al-Buri, Ali al-Saffarah and Fahd Aba al-Khail.
Since November 2017, the Kingdom has witnessed waves of arrests, initially involving dozens of princes, senior officials, current and former ministers, officials and businessmen at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, on the orders of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Later, the Saudi authorities expanded the pursuit campaign, and ordered new arrests that included political and religious elites and symbols in the financial and business world in the Kingdom, and the campaign extended to include more of the crown prince’s cousins and their children and families.
Four of the princes who were recently arrested by bin Salman are still in detention, and they are Ahmad bin Abdulaziz, Muhammad bin Nayef, Abdul Aziz bin Saud and Nayef bin Ahmed.
In early March, the American Wall Street Journal revealed that the Saudi authorities carried out a campaign of arrests of princes from the ruling family, headed by Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the younger brother of King Salman, and his nephew Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, the former crown prince, and others.
She explained that the reason for the arrest was “betrayal of the homeland,” which was not issued against him immediately by the Saudi authorities.
Observers considered that the arrest of the Emirs bin Nayef and bin Abdulaziz may be a proactive step to manage the risks that prevent bin Salman from assuming the throne as successor to his father, because they are possible alternatives to take over in the Kingdom.
