Omar Al Qaid, nephew of Majeed Al Qaid and brother of Faiz Al Qaid, arbitrarily detained by the Saudi authorities since 2003 and 2005 respectively, was arrested on 28 November 2010 while eating breakfast at Al Quds Restaurant in his hometown, Sakaka. The restaurant was encircled by agents of the Mabahith, the Saudi investigative police, before they raided the establishment to arrest Omar Al Qaid. The IT student was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to his home. Upon arrival, the agents did not hesitate to turn the whole house upside down, confiscating electronic devices, books and other personal belongings before taking Omar Al Qaid away to an unknown destination.

For an entire month after Omar Al Qaid's arrest, his family had no information on what had happened to him. When they were finally allowed to visit him in Dhahban Prison, south-east of Jeddah, he appeared to have been subjected to severe torture and ill-treatment. It turned out that he had been beaten, forced to stand upright for several days in a row and deprived of sleep over long periods of time. While under duress, he was repeatedly interrogated about Alkarama and finally said he had been in contact with our organisation.

To this day, over one year and two months after his arrest, Omar Al Qaid remains in Dhahban Prison without charges, without a trial, without being able to contest his detention before a court of law and without knowing when his detention will end. Alkarama considers this, along with the treatment described above, to amount to torture.

We recall that other members of Omar Al Qaid's family are also suffering from illegal imprisonment. Alkarama namely submitted the cases of his uncle, Majeed Al Qaid, and of his brother, Faiz Al Qaid, to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. In its Opinions No. 35/2005 and 4/2007, the Working Group found their detention to be arbitrary as it is devoid of a legal basis and results from their exercise of rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In light of the above information, Alkarama considers Omar Al Qaid's detention by the Saudi authorities to be arbitrary and therefore submitted his case to the relevant UN Special Procedures, today. We demand Omar Al Qaid's immediate and unconditional release and ask that his relatives also be released as called for by the UN Working Group.

15 February 2012