Bitter wait .. Jordanians in Saudi prisons

Ayman Fadilat - Amman

"We were bored of silence and waiting, ten months after my husband was arrested without knowing any information, whether he was alive or killed under torture. We visited him once and made two calls. Unfortunately for five months we do not know anything about him."

A cry by the wife of a Jordanian detainee in Saudi Arabia, who was arrested ten months ago by the Saudi State Security Service at the airport, is leaving the kingdom.

In a statement to Al Jazeera Net, the wife, who asked not to be named, adds: "At the airport and during our final departure for Saudi Arabia my husband was taken from among us to interrogate, we waited for hours and did not return, airport security told us that we can leave but without my husband, I asked them what they accused, did not answer me One. "

The number of Jordanians detained in Saudi Arabia is 35, without charge or trial, according to the families of the detainees. Most of the detained families have left their Saudi children and returned to Jordan in a "difficult psychological state."

Arrested without trial
The stories of the detainees told by their families in a sit-in organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday are varied.

Fathi Abu Humeida, brother of the detainee Abdul Hafez Abu Humeida, a professor of jurisprudence and Islamic jurisprudence at Imam Muhammad bin Saud University in Riyadh, told al-Jazeera Net the arrest of his brother. The investigation was visited by his wife an hour. "

Here is the story of the oldest detainee Maher al-Halman, who was arrested about a year and nine months ago in Jeddah, of which he spent a year and two months without being seen by his family.``The first visit we did not know because he lost a lot of weight as a result of psychological torture and solitary confinement, '' his daughter says.

The methods of detention practiced by state security and mabahith agents varied. Some of them were arrested at home at night, some were arrested from work, and some were arrested from airports or border crossings as they left the Kingdom.

List of detainees
The list of the names of the detainees reaches 35 detainees, including elderly, university professors, academics, media and engineers contracted by the Saudi government to work there, some of whom have been detained for two years, others seven months, according to the head of the Committee for the Follow-up of Jordanian Detainees in Saudi Arabia Khadr Mashayekh.

The sheikhs added that the aim of the sit-in is to make the voices of the detainees' families heard by the world and decision-makers in the kingdom.

In a report published last week, Human Rights Watch criticized "tougher repression and abusive practices aimed at silencing dissidents and critics in Saudi Arabia, and that the arrest of citizens for their peaceful criticism of government policies or advocacy of rights is not new in Saudi Arabia, but expanded after the selection of Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince.

External relay
In turn, Ambassador Dhaifallah Al-Fayez, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, met with the families of the detainees and assured them that the matter was being followed up with the official authorities in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Fayez told Al-Jazeera Net that the Foreign Ministry is in contact with the families of Jordanian detainees in Saudi Arabia, and arranged visits and telephone calls, and that Jordanian missions abroad communicate with prisoners in different countries, and organize them visits in accordance with the laws of the country in which they are located, pointing out that Jordanian efforts have not stopped With the brothers in Saudi Arabia to end this file and release all Jordanian detainees there.

Forgotten human rights
"The Saudi authorities are not concerned with human rights," said Abdul Karim al-Shraideh, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Jordan. "Innocent people can be arrested for months and years without trial or charge." There are Jordanian detainees in Saudi Arabia who have been detained for two years and more, and several years ago, Dr. Mohammed Amin al-Nimrat died in Saudi prisons after a three-year detention without charge and due to medical negligence.

Detainees are subjected to psychological and physical torture and solitary confinement in dirty cells, suffering from medical negligence and lack of treatment, and throughout their imprisonment are not charged or given a fair trial, or even allowed to meet with lawyers.

The campaign of arrests of Jordanians began last year, but increased earlier this year, targeting sympathizers of the Palestinian cause, and detainees are languishing in al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh, Dhahban prison in Jeddah, in addition to a third unknown prison in solitary cells.