Amnesty calls to release Sudanese activist detained in Saudi Arabia
April 5, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – Amnesty International Thursday called to release a Sudanese activist detained in Saudi Arabia and to not deport him to Sudan where he faces detention, torture and ill-treatment.
The 46-year-old Sudanese activist was arrested at his apartment in Jeddah, on the Red Sea, by Saudi security officials on 18 November 2017. He was interrogated about his activism and informed by prison officials that he was detained at the order of the Sudanese authorities, according to Amnesty.
“On 6 March 2018, he was moved from Dhaban prison to Al Shumaisi detention centre, an immigration centre outside Jeddah, where his fingerprints were taken, raising fears that Husham Ali is at imminent risk of deportation,” reads a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.
The London-based rights groups pointed that Mohammed-Alii is a prisoner of conscience and called on the Saudi authorities to secure his immediate release.
“Release Husham Ali Mohammad Ali immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression,” said Amnesty
Also, it called to not deport him to Sudan where “there is a real risk he would be subjected to unfair trial, torture and other ill-treatment”.
Amnesty said the detainee who has resided in Saudi Arabia since 2010 contributed to various online forums to expose government corruption, and expressed his support for the November and December 2016 civil disobedience in Sudan on his Facebook page.
During the past years, several Sudanese political activists had been detained in Saudi Arabia for their activism hostile to the regime of President Omer al-Bashir.
In 2005, Saudi Arabia and Sudan interior ministers signed a security pact in Khartoum which included clauses related to preventing any activities by residents or citizens on their territories that are hostile to the government of the other side.
(ST)