12 May 2008

Saudi Arabia: Arbitrary detention of Mr. Abdel Rahman Samara

Alkarama for Human Rights, May 12, 2008

Alkarama asked, on May 8, 2008, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to intervene in the case of Mr. Samara, arbitrarily detained since July 17, 2007.
Mr. Marwan Abdel Rahman Ahmad SAMARA, Palestinian citizen, was born in 1984 and lives in Riyadh. He is married and father of a baby girl.

He was arrested by the Saudi General Intelligence (Al Mabahit Al Aama) on July 17, 2007 in his shop in Riyadh. The agents did not have a judicial warrant and the reasons for his arrest has not been notified to him.

His home was raided late at night again without any judicial warrant and the family's computer was confiscated.

Mr. Samara was held incommunicado for a month and then transferred to Alicha prison where he remained five and a half months before being imprisoned in Al Hayr where he is still detained.

His family has made numerous attempts to provide assistance to him, first by trying to know his place of detention and then why he was arrested. After several months members of his finally were allowed to visit him in prison twice a month.

His spouse learned that Mr. Samara was never brought before a magistrate and has therefore not been able to challenge the validity of his detention. Moreover, he is still deprived of the assistance from a lawyer despite his repeated requests to the prison administration.

Mr. Samara is therefore deprived of his liberty for an arbitrary manner, his present detention is contrary to both the internal legal standards as well as relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Iraq - HR Instruments

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

ICCPR: Ratified on 25.01.1971
Optional Protocol: No

Last State report: 11.10.2013
Last concluding observations: 19.11.1997

Convention against Torture (CAT)

CAT: Accessed on 07.07.2011
Optional Protocol: No
Art. 20 (Confidential inquiry): Yes
Art. 22 (Individual communications): No

Last State report: 30.06.2014
Last concluding observations: 17.09.2015

International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED)

CED: Accessed on 23.11.2010
Art. 33 (Inquiry procedure): Yes

Last State report: 26.06.2014
Last concluding observations: 18.09.2015

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

Last review: 11.2014 (2nd cycle)

National Human Rights Institution (NHRI)

Independent High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) – Status B