Relatives of Jordanian and Palestinian prisoners in Saudi prisons have announced 8 cases of Covid-19 amongst them.
The Committee of Jordanian Prisoners in Saudi (CJPS) has said, “speaking with our detained, they have declared that 8 cases of the coronavirus have been found amongst them over the last week, all in the Abha prison”, in the southwest of the country.
And, the committee added, it holds the Saudi and Jordanian authorities entirely responsible for the health situations of those detained by Riyadh, some for over two years. The committee called for their immediate release.
The committee has declared that the Saudi prison administration has isolated the infected, and said that some are suffering from very poor health due to the length of their detention.
The committee has called for the treatment of the infected in critical care facilities, not prison clinics, which lack the needed equipment, “especially since some of them [the detainees] suffer chronic diseases”, the committee added.
The committee also highlighted its previous warnings that Jordanian and Palestinian detainees were at risk of infectious diseases, especially Covid-19. “Adding to our suffering at the unjustified detention of our children for years – missing Eid after Eid with them – is their being held, sick and isolated, without proper medical care”, the committee said.
In February 2019, Saudi Arabia arrested more than 60 resident Jordanians and Palestinians, including 83-years-old academic, Muhammad Al-Khudari, accusing them of “supporting the Palestinian people and giving financial support to the resistance”.
Riyadh has not issued any comment or clarification on the issue since the arrests, though has said the detainees are being dealt with by competent courts, and “enjoy all the rights the system guarantees them”.
On 21 June this year, a Saudi court postponed detainees’ sentencing to 3 October. This was the second postponement, following the first in February this year.
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) has called on the international community to intervene to ensure the immediate, unconditional release of the Palestinian and Jordanian detainees detained in Saudi.
AOHR UK has warned against Saudi authorities’ delay in deciding the case, as they prepare to condemn the detainees on fabricated evidence and faulty investigations, via improper trials and without detainees having the opportunity to lodge complaints of violations against them.
