Academic Osama Al-Hasani
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) called on the Moroccan authorities to stop the extradition process of the academic Osama Alhasani- an Australian citizen of Saudi origins- to Riyadh since his deportation would put his life at risk, especially given the severely deteriorating human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.
AOHR UK pointed out that Osama Alhasani, who has a Ph.D. in information systems and is a former faculty member at the faculty of King Abdulaziz University, had been arrested a few hours after arriving in Morocco three weeks ago, based on an arrest warrant and a request for his extradition by the Saudi authorities, despite entering Morocco as an Australian citizen.
In her testimony to AOHR UK, the wife of Alhasani said, “A security forces stormed the garage of our residence in Tangiers after four hours of our arrival in Morocco on February 8, 2021. They arrested my husband by force after insulting and beating him in front of me and our child. They informed us that he was internationally wanted by the Saudi authorities without giving further details.
The insistence of extraditing him to Saudi Arabia raises many concerns on the real motivation behind his arrest, especially as he has dissident political opinions against that of the Saudi government, which lead him to leave his job as an undersecretary at the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade in 2015 after facing many pressures and harassment for his political opinions. After he left the country”.
“I was only able to visit my husband two days after his arrest, for five minutes only and with the presence of the security personnel.
During the visit, he told me that receives ill-treatment and is being pressured by the Moroccan police to sign his agreement on being extradited without being tried in Morocco, but he refused.
After that he was transferred to Tangier Prison during which he suffered ill-treatment and was only served bread and water, then, on February 23, he was transferred to Tiflet 2 Prison, where visitations are completely banned.”, she added.
She explained that her husband suffers from irregular blood pressure and must take medicines periodically to prevent deterioration of his health, especially as he suffered a heart attack three months ago and could relapse at any time, as the police refused to receive the medicines or his medical report.
AOHR UK pointed out that on March 3, MR. Alhasani will be presented before the Moroccan authorities based on an arrest warrant issued by Saudi Arabia, after which they will decide on his extradition.
AOHR UK stressed that extraditing Alhasani to Saudi Arabia is a gross violation of international law. Relying on the Saudi judiciary can never be a good reason to extradite him, as the Saudi judiciary system is complexly flawed, not independent, and is politicized, therefore it is unable to enforce the law.
AOHR UK also denounced the security cooperation between the Moroccan authorities and the Saudi regime, especially during a time when formal international reports revealed the involvement of the Saudi regime in horrific crimes, including the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
AOHR UK called on the Australian authorities to intervene immediately and take action to prevent the extradition of the Australian citizen to Saudi and to save his life.
AOHR UK. also called on the competent international bodies to pressure Morocco to stop the extradition of Osama Alhasani to Saudi, and to stop any security cooperation with the Saudi regime regarding national and international extradition of people.
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