Despite spending billions of dollars on large entertainment activities in order to paint a new image of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia about its openness and to whitewash its record of human rights violations; the Saudi security services continue to commit grave systematic violations against opponents and their families, as Saudi citizen Ahmed Abdel Nasser Al-Huwaiti was arrested on Thursday 01 October, while studying at Prince Fahd Bin Sultan University in Tabuk.
According to activists, the security services have not yet disclosed any legal justification for the detention of Ahmed Abdel Nasser Al-Huwaiti. However, the previous practices of these authorities indicate that his arrest came on the grounds of his kinship to the nephew of Abdel Rahim Al-Huwaiti, who was killed by Saudi forces in April 2020 for his objection to implement the Saudi authorities order evacuate and demolish his home in order to establish the Neom city project. Hours before his death, he recorded his objection in a video which went viral.
Ahmed Al-Huwaiti sent a voice message to his father, which got spread on social media shortly before his arrest. He told his father that the Saudi forces were surrounding the university for unknown reasons. His family lost contact with him ever since, and the authorities continue to refuse to announce the reasons or place of detention until now.
Activists from Al-Huwaiti family reported that since the killing of Abdel Rahim Al-Huwaiti, the number of detainees from the family has reached 14, three of whom have been released, while the rest continue to be held without any charges or being brought before any judicial authority until now.
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in The UK (AOHR UK) stresses that the Saudi regime continues with its repressive measures non stop. It uses all immoral measures to terrorise the opposition, silence them and restrict the freedom of opinion and expression.
While the Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman boasts of the Kingdom’s openness, Saudi prisons are crowded with scholars, intellectuals, activists, and while Khashoggi’s killers are still unpunished.
AOHR UK calls on the international community to take a moral stance regarding the practices and violations of the Saudi regime. AOHR UK highlights that diplomatic and military cooperation with the Saudi regime is a kind of participation in all its crimes and it also supports the Saudi regime to continue committing further violations.
