Dr. Saud Mukhtar Al-Hashimi, a medical doctor aged 45, is a public figure in the movement for constitutional reform in Saudi Arabia. He works to improve the situation of civil and political freedoms in his country.

Dr Al-Hashimi was arrested by the intelligence services (Mabahith) in Jeddah on 2February 2007 while meeting with eight other persons well known in Saudi society at one of their homes. The others arrested are:

- Mr. Sulaiman Al-Rashoudi, a lawyer and human rights activist committed to defending prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia for whom he campaigned to obtain fair trials.

- Mr. Essam Basrawy, a lawyer and working to obtain civil liberties and constitutional reforms.

- Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Shumairi, a former university professor fired because of his political commitment to constitutional reforms.

- Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Khuraiji, a medical doctor working to obtain civil liberties and constitutional reforms.

- Mr. Moussa Al-Garni, a university professor, working to obtain civil liberties and constitutional reforms.

-Mr. Abdulrahman-Sadiq Khan, an academician, working to obtain civil liberties and constitutional reform.

- Mr. Al-Sharif Saif Al-Din Shahine, a businessman, working to obtain civil liberties and constitutional reforms.

- Mr. Muhammad Hasan al-Qurashi, a businessman, working to obtain civil liberties and constitutional reforms.

According to a statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior, General Mansur al-Turki, all these people were arrested with Dr. Al-Hashimi because they were suspected of "supporting and financing terrorism," and "conducting illegal activities relating to the illegal collection of funds and diversion of funds for suspicious parties ".

However, these people had in fact gathered to discuss the creation of a committee to defend civil and political freedoms and the need for constitutional reforms in the country.

Their activities were known to the political authorities because the activists had not kept secret their political views on the need for constitutional reforms in the country.

Dr. Saud Mukhtar al-Hashimi has intervened in various Arab media to give his opinion on the issues concerning the political situation in the Middle East and his ideas about reform.

He was recently asked by authorities not to speak on the Arab satellite television channel Al Jazeera "because of his position on the issue of human rights in the Arab world."

There is no doubt that the arrests of Dr. Al-Hashimi and others are of a strictly political nature and are intended to prohibit them from expressing themselves peacefully.

Saudi Arabia has not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, these arrests and incommunicado detention without due process of the law violate the domestic law of Saudi Arabia and the relevant provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Alkarama for Human Rights considers these reasons as justification to seek urgent action from the Saudi Arabian authorities to immediately release Dr. Saud Mukhtar Al-Hashimi and the eight others mentioned above.