For more than three months, AL JUNAHI's family has not been able to obtain any news about him in spite of their numerous inquiries with the Saudi Ministry of Interior. It was only in August 2007 that Mr. AL JUNAHI was able to call his family and inform them that he was detained in the Alicha prison, close to Riyad. His family has made unsuccessful attempts to try to visit him and mandate an attorney to assist him.
AL JUNAHI's family has also visited the Saudi Ministry of Interior to inquire about his fate but all they received as an answer to their grievances was that "AL JUNAHI was detained on a preventive basis and that he would soon be released".
After many months of expectation, his family was eventually allowed to visit him but the administration
refused their request to mandate an attorney to assist Mr. AL JUNAHI.
It was during the first visit that his family knew that he had been ill treated and that he had been accused by the intelligence services of conveying "subversive ideas". However, he had not been formally charged with any offense.
On 1 December 2007, family visits were suppressed and since that date, his family has received no news from him. Authorities have since then refused to justify this ban or give any information about the whereabouts of Mr. AL JUNAHI.
AL JUNAHI's family subsequently contacted the UAE consul in Riyad who assured them that he would intervene with Saudi authorities and visit him in the detention center. Two weeks later, the Consul informed the family that the Saudi authorities rejected his request.
AL JUNAHI's family is today particularly worried about the refusal of the Saudi authorities to inform them about his fate and expresses fears about his physical and mental integrity, owing to the fact that he had indeed faced bad treatment since his arrest.
Mr. AL JUNAHI is unquestionably deprived of his freedom in an arbitrary manner since his arrest nine months ago. This constitutes a grave violation of his most fundamental rights. His detention violates both the internal saudi legislation as well as international Human Rights norms.
Alkarama consequently asks the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions to declare the detention of Mr. AL JUNAHI as arbitrary and to intervene with the Saudi government to free Mr. AL JUNAHI and to conform to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.