24 March 2009

Saudi Arabia: Unlimited hunger strike of Nasser Al-Hajiri, arbitrarily detained for 15 months

Mr Nasser Al-Hajiri, a Kuwaiti national, was arrested on 16 December 2007 and currently detained at Dammam's Intelligence Services' detention centre in Saudi Arabia without legal procedure. On 15 March 2009 he began an interminable hunger strike despite the state of his health, which has deteriorated since his arrest.

On 20 March 2009, Al-Karama sent an urgent appeal to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention asking it to intervene with the Saudi Authorities.

Nasser Naïf Dhib Al-Hajiri, 36 years old at the time of the events mentioned, is a public administration employee in Kuwait where he lives. He was arrested by the Saudi intelligence services (Al Mabahit Al Aama) on 16 December 2007 at the Al-Khafdji border crossing between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Accompanied by his wife, he was returning from Mecca where they had been on pilgrimage, by road. He was arrested without judicial warrant and taken to an unknown destination while his wife was allowed to return to her country.

Since his arrest, his family has undertaken several steps to know his place of detention and the grounds for his arrest. Finally after five months his family was given visitation rights at Dammam's Intelligence Services' detention center.

It was at this moment that his family learned that he has not yet been told the reasons for his arrest. And so far, he has not been charged or brought before a magistrate. During his first questioning, the agent who was in charge even asked him about the reasons for which he had been taken to the detention centre.

His brother visited him at the prison on 15 March 2009, the date which Al-Hajiri began his interminable hunger strike to protest against the fact that he does not know the grounds for his arrest, has never appeared before a judicial authority and is still not allowed to contest the legality of his detention, nor permitted legal assistance. His health is very fragile since he suffers from diabetes and hypertension.

Al-Hajir is obviously arbitrarily deprived of his liberty and his current detention is contrary both to domestic legal standards and to the international norms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Morocco - HR Instruments

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

ICCPR: Ratified on 03.05.1979
Optional Protocol: No

Last State report: Overdue since 07.07.2015
Last concluding observations: 01.12.2004

Convention against Torture (CAT)

CAT: Ratified on 21.06.1993
Optional Protocol: Accessed on 24.11.2014
Art. 20 (Confidential inquiry): Yes
Art. 22 (Individual communications): Yes

Last State report: 30.06.2013
Last concluding observations: 21.12.2011

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

CED: Ratified on 14.05.2013
Art. 33 (Inquiry procedure): Yes

State report: Overdue since 14.06.2015
Last concluding observations: N/A

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

Last review: 05.2012 (2nd cycle)
Next review: -

National Human Rights Institution (NHRI)

Conseil National des Droits de l'Homme (CNDH) – Status A

Last review: 10.2010
Next review: 11.2015