“His death is evidence of the deterioration of human rights in Saudi Arabia.” Human rights organizations mourn Sheikh Al-Hamid, calling him a hero

Human Rights Watch considered that the death of the detainee in Saudi prisons, Dr. Abdullah Al-Hamid, is clear evidence of the deteriorating human rights situation in the Kingdom.

"We have lost one of the leadership lights of the human rights movement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but its message and many of the activists who inspired it will live and continue to press for reform," said Michael Page, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division of the human rights organization.

And he added, "It is unreasonable for Abdullah Al-Hamid to be forced to spend his last years in prison simply because of his criticism of Saudi Arabia's widespread human rights violations."

Amnesty International For
its part, Amnesty International today referred to Amnesty International Abdullah Al-Hamid as a "fearless hero".

This came in a statement published by the organization on its website, in which it expressed its shock to receive the news of al-Hamid's death in Saudi prisons.

"We were shocked to learn that Al-Hamid had died while in detention because of his peaceful activity," the statement said.

He added, "Al-Hamid was the champion of human rights in Saudi Arabia, fearless, and was determined to build a better world for all."

How did Al-Hamid die?
According to Saudi human rights activists, al-Hamid did not receive adequate medical care before his death.

"We belong to God and to Him we shall return ... Dr. Abu Bilal Abdullah Al-Hamid died this morning in prison, as a result of the deliberate health negligence that led him to a stroke that killed his life," the Saudi account of the "prisoners of conscience" wrote on Twitter.

He added that Al-Hamid’s death in prison “is not an ordinary thing, as it is a deliberate assassination carried out by the Saudi authorities after the prison administration left him in a coma for several hours before being transferred to the hospital.”

The opinion detainees' account stated that "silence on this crime may cause the death of other free detainees."

It is noteworthy that the Saudi authorities arrested Dr. Abdullah Al-Hamid, one of the founders of the reform project “Decision” in the Kingdom, in March 2013, and sentenced him to 11 years in prison, without explaining the reasons for the ruling.