Activists on social media circulated a recording of an audio call made by the family of the Saudi preacher Sheikh Salman al-Awda with him while he was in a Saudi prison, during which he confirmed that he was in good health.
The video was broadcast on Twitter's account, which is concerned with the rights of political detainees in Saudi Arabia.
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It appears in the recording that Sheikh Al-Awda talks with his mother and daughter Ghada, and assures them that he is in good health.
Abdullah al-Awda, son of the Saudi preacher, revealed late last year that his father was being subjected to torture that was classified in international prisons in Saudi authorities.
Dr.. Abdullah Al-Awdah: My father, Sheikh Salman, has returned to a prison treatment that is internationally classified as torture. He was deprived of sleep for several days and left in solitary confinement. Food is served to him in a small bag that is thrown to him while he is bound and he is forced to open the bag in his mouth! pic.twitter.com/mguM6MQjJs Prisoners of Conscience (@ m3takl) December 31, 2019 |
The authorities arrested Sheikh al-Awda on September 10, 2017, as part of a campaign of arrests that included a number of prominent scholars and activists in the country, amid demands from prominent personalities and international and Islamic organizations that they should be released.