Leaked reports reveal severe abuse of Saudi political prisoners
“Saudi detainees including women activists
have alleged that authorities mistreated them with unspeakable cruelty,
including electric shocks, whippings and sexual harassment, and new revelations
of medical reports appear to confirm what they have said for months.”
Political prisoners in Saudi Arabia are said to be suffering from malnutrition, cuts, bruises and burns, according to leaked medical reports that are understood to have been prepared for the country’s ruler, King Salman. The reports seem to provide the first documented evidence from within the heart of the royal court that political prisoners are facing severe physical abuse, despite the government’s denials that men and women in custody are being tortured.
The Guardian has been
told the medical reports will be given to King Salman along with
reco-mmendations that are said to include a potential pardon for all the
prisoners, or at least early release for those with serious health problems. These options are part
of a substantial internal review said to have been ordered by the king, who
approved the commissioning of examinations of up to 60 prisoners, many
of them women, for a report to be circulated around the royal court, a
source said.
Some of the assessments
were leaked to the Guardian, which asked the Saudi government to comment on the
medical reports more than a week ago. A spokesman declined to discuss the
issue, despite being given repeated opportunities to do so. Officials did not
challenge the authenticity of the reports. The Guardian has been
able independently to verify the accuracy and contents of one of the
examinations. The conditions of other individuals, as described in the
documents, are consistent with reports that have emerged involving claims of
torture, though the Guardian has not been able to corroborate the details. Pressure on Saudi
Arabia over the detention and treatment
of political prisoners has been growing in recent months amid claims
that some female activists have been subjected to electric
shocks and lashings in custody.
With the kingdom
also reeling from the aftermath of the murder
of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, King Salman is said to have
ordered a review of the decision to arrest and detain about 200 men and women
in a crackdown ordered by his heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman...
see also:
Posts on Khashoggi murder
