Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) condemned the decision of a Moroccan court to hand over the Saudi academic Osama Alhasani to the Saudi regime, describing this decision as “unjust.”
In a series of tweets published on Wednesday, AOHR UK said that this unjust decision, made under political pressure, “endangers Alhasani’s life, given the famous intolerance of the Saudi regime for dissidents.
AOHR UK affirmed that the decision will negatively impact Morocco’s reputation, stressing that the Moroccan government, headed by Saad Eddin El-Othmani, is fully responsible for the safety of Alhasani.
AOHR UK called on the Australian authorities to intervene immediately and take action to prevent the deportation of the Australian citizen to Saudi and to save his life.
According to his wife’s testimony to AOHR UK, on February 8, 2021, four hours after his arrival in Morocco, the Moroccan authorities arrested Alhasani at the request of Riyadh, after beating and insulting him in front of his wife and 4 months old son.
Osama Alhasani, who holds 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.
AOHR UK had called on the Moroccan authorities to stop the extradition Osama Alhasani to Riyadh since his deportation would put his life at risk, especially given the severely deteriorating human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.
In a recent statement, 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 competent international bodies to pressure Morocco to stop the deportation of Osama Alhasani to Saudi, and to stop any security cooperation with the Saudi regime regarding national and international extradition of people.
