Throughout the period of his detention, the young Saudi was severely tortured. He was beaten and electrocuted on his entire body with an electric stick, was subjected to humiliating treatment and, on several different occasions, was placed naked in his cell with the air conditioning turned on high – exposing him to extremely cold temperatures for long periods.

After nine years of detention in inhumane conditions, Mr Al Ayed's mental and physical health is severely affected. His relatives report that during their visits to him in detention he showed signs of an alarming and incoherent behaviour, indicating that he currently suffers from serious psychological problems, most likely due to the ill-treatment he was subjected to. Yet, Mr Al Ayed continues to be deprived of access to any medical care by the prison authorities.

The lack medical care for prisoners is an issue common to many Saudi detention centers, human rights groups report. In most of these centers, which are under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior, ailing prisoners are allowed a single medical visit per week and are only evacuated to hospital when their health becomes too 'critical'. Recently, the issue of the lack of access to medical care led to prisoners' riots in Al-Hayer prison. On 13 July 2012, Mohammad Al-Shahri who suffers from cancer was refused medical treatment by the prison authorities. This led to a mass protest by detainees in Wing 3 of the new Al-Hayer prison.