GENEVA: The UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders said Wednesday she was concerned for the life of an imprisoned Saudi activist after his family lost contact with him.
Mohammad al-Qahtani, a founding member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was jailed for 10 years in 2013.
Special rapporteur Mary Lawlor said she was “increasingly concerned for the health, and life” of Qahtani following reports that his family had lost communication with him since October 23 “after filing a complaint about attacks on him by other inmates”.
“I am calling on the relevant authorities in Saudi Arabia to inform his family of his whereabouts and current state of health, and to allow access by his family and lawyers,“ she said in a statement.
Lawlor said he had originally been jailed for allegedly providing false information to outside sources, including UN human rights mechanisms.
UN special rapporteurs are unpaid experts who do not speak for the United Nations but are mandated to report their findings to it.
Lawlor said Qahtani, who is serving his sentence in a Riyadh jail, had complained about attacks by other prisoners since May but his request to be transferred has been refused.
The Irish expert said she was gravely concerned about the use of incommunicado detention, as it represents a violation of detainees’ rights under international law.
“Such methods give rise to grave concerns for the personal integrity of detainees, as they run a heightened risk of being subjected to ill-treatment and torture when all contact with the outside world has been blocked,“ she said.
Lawlor said she was in contact with the relevant authorities concerning Qahtani’s case.
Saudi Arabia has long faced international criticism over its human rights record.-AFP