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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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PRESS RELEASE: Human Rights Abuse in Saudi Arabia

IHRC is deeply concerned about the various cases of human rights abuse that have arisen in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). In the light of King Abdullah’s visit to UK, IHRC is writing to dome of those meeting with him to request him to consider the following cases and resolve them in accordance with international human rights standards.

Abdi Hakim Gellani

Abdi Hakim Mohamed Gellani is a British resident who organized Hajj/Umrah tours in UK. He was detained in KSA while taking a group to perform Umrah in November 2005 and was held for several months without charge. He was released in June 2006 but was not permitted to leave the country. On 8 August 2007 Mr Gellani was rearrested; the Saudi authorities initially denied his arrest and have failed to give an explanation for it.

Rizana Nafeek

Rizana Nafeek is a Sri Lankan teenage girl who migrated to KSA to work to support her poor family. She arrived in the country on an altered passport which misstated her year of birth as 1982. She was employed to work for a Saudi family and was assigned to take care of their infant son, which she was not trained to do. On 22 May 2005, the infant son choked on the milk that Ms Nafeek was feeding him and died. Ms Nafeek was immediately handed over to the police was reportedly made to confess under duress and subsequently sentenced to death. She retracted her confession in court on 2 February 2007 and has filed an appeal against the sentence. She currently awaits the King’s decision.

Khaled Hussain Al Bulusy

Khaled Hussain Al Buluwy is a Saudi national who was arrested on 17 July 2003 and was informed that he was suspected of having committed a fatal road accident, which he denied. Mr Al-Buluwy has neither been charged nor tried in court since the time of his arrest. Further, he has reportedly not been allowed access to independent legal counsel and his identity documents have been taken away from him. Also, he has reportedly not been allowed to make a plea against his detention. His wife, has been denied entry in to KSA to visit her husband in spite of possessing a valid residence permit. They have a four year old son from their marriage who holds Saudi Arabian nationality.

In addition to the above-mentioned cases, IHRC has also campaigned about attacks on pilgrims in Makkah as well as hunger strikes by detainees in Saudi prisons who have been reportedly tortured in prison and have been held without trial or due process, and have no access to their families or lawyers.

IHRC requests King Abdullah to intervene in the above-mentioned cases of injustice and to ensure that they are resolved in accordance with international human rights and standards.

For more information please contact the Press Office on (+44) 20 8904 4222 or (+44) 7958 522196or email info@ihrc.org.[ENDS]

IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom

Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183
Email: info@ihrc.org
Web: www.ihrc.org