ESSHR

More than 269 days of torture and arbitrary detention of a Mr. Salman Quraish

Report: Saudi European Society for Human Rights "under establishment"

02/10/2013

Tortured and arbitrarily arrested Salman Amin Quraish

The Saudi authorities arrested Salman Amen Quraish on 06/01/2013; he is 20 years old, born on 01/10/1993, lived in Qatif in Saudi Arabia. He is a single man and works in a local company.  He got picked up on Riyadh Street in the province of Qatif while he was getting out of his work; unfortunately he had no idea why they arresting him, besides the police have no warrant of his arrest or any documents to show that. However, he was blind folded, handcuffed, and has sent to Dammam prison. He has been put into solitary confinement for three months, and then transferred to a mass cell jail.

What the Saudi authorities did to Mr.Quraish conflicts with Article II, which represents Saudi Criminal Procedure Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/39 dated 10/15/2001, which states: (You cannot arrest any person, or search them, or imprison them except in the cases specified by the law, and the arrested person can only be imprisoned in designated areas, and for the period specified by the competent authority)

The Saudi Government violations that Mr. Quraish has been exposed to include:
1. Verbal and immoral assaults.
2. Beating with fists and kicking with legs.
3. Beating with thick hoses, plastic and metal sticks.
4. Standing for long hours with eyes blindfolded, his hands up, and legs restricted.
5. The high-strength electricity used cannot be accurately identified, but according to the description available, an electric cable was placed on the body of Mr.Quraish in various places, resulting in severe pain and causing his body to burn due to the electrocution.
6. Mr.Quraish was put in a torture room, or as the soldiers in the detective called it (The Black Room), because its walls are painted in black, and in the room there are four men who dressed in black and they specialists in torture.
7. Mr. Quraish was put in another room called: (temperature room), which he got exposed to high temperature for long hours.
8. Forcing Mr. Quraish to take drugs that cause hallucinations and put him in an abnormal condition.

The results of the above has resulted in very poor health for Mr. Quarish; bleeding in the stomach, burns and bruises on the his body, and effecting his vision, which caused him to need glasses. Unfortunately officials have refused medical care by a neutral doctor needed to document these claims.

The torture continues for Mr. Quraish at the time of the writing of this report. They did not stop torturing him during this period especially when it comes to the investigation which is accompanied by torturing capacitor, because of this deadly torture, Mr. Quarish was forced to admit to  several charges that he had nothing to do with, according to the investigator, including: murder, shooting, and participation in  and preparation for peaceful protest marches. The last charge Mr. Quarish was forced to attribute to himself is the charge of selling drugs.

Mr. Salman Quarish was taken to the first hearing in court, on 09/29/2013, without notice to him or his family, and without allowing him access to a lawyer. The judge’s ruling on Salman sentenced him to five years and 2,000 lashes, and that was only for the charge of the sale of drugs.

Mr. Quarish wanted  to appeal the ruling, and the judge give him the necessary government papers for this, but the soldiers who accompanied him took the papers from him, raising doubts about the possibility of Mr. Quraish being able to use his right to appeal, on the judgment in the drug charge against him.

Although Mr. Quarish presented to the court after 266 days (approximately nine months) of his arrest accompanied by torture and on one charge only, but the violation as provided for in Article XIV of the Criminal Procedure Code, which says: (The lapse should ends the arrest of a person in five days, unless the investigator want to extend the period of detention, then investigator must send a documents papers (before the expire period) to the president in the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution in that region to issue an order to extend the period of detention or periods consecutive, but not exceeding the period aggregate to forty days from the date of that person arrest or release the accused, and in cases that require detention a longer time, then the investigator should refer the matter to the President of the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution to issue a command extension for a period or periods of successive no more than 30 days, and not more than a total of six months from the first day that person got arrested, and should be immediately transmission to the court competent, and/or release him/her).
Mr. Quarish still find harassment from time to time and he does not know what his fate and what the detectives intends to do with him in the coming days, where they are forcing him to acknowledge anything under the influence of torture.

We at the European Society of Saudi Arabia for Human Rights, as we publish this report to local human rights organizations and international express our grave concern about the fate of detained Salman Quraish, and ask the Saudi government the following:
1. The immediate release of detained arbitrarily Mr. Salman Quraish, and the dropping all charges against him.
2. Conduct a prompt, impartial and thorough about the torture and multi abuses that detainee Salman Quraish suffered from, (based on the Article 28 of the “Prison and detention” issued under Royal Decree No. M/31 dated 06/21/1978 and Council of Ministers Resolution No. 441 dated 08/06/1987 which states: (During the process of collection of evidence, the criminal investigation officer shall hear statements of those who may possess information with respect to facts and perpetrators of crimes, question any suspect, and enter the same in the relevant records. They may seek the assistance of experts, including physicians, and seek their advice in writing), also the Law of Criminal Procedure of Saudi Arabia, states in Article II on: (No person shall be arrested, searched, detained, or imprisoned except in cases specified by the law. Detention or imprisonment shall be carried out only in the places designated for such purposes and shall be for the period prescribed by the competent authority. A person under arrest shall not be subjected to any bodily or moral harm. Similarly, he shall not be subjected to any torture or degrading treatment).
3. Provide the necessary health care at the expense of the state, to address the implications of the torture.
4. Allowing Salman‘s family to contact a lawyer to defend him immediately without disrupting,  but not allowing them to access a lawyer after more than 268 days is a clear violation of a range of materials stipulated by the Saudi Law of Criminal Procedure, including:

Article IV: Any accused person shall have the right to seek the assistance of a lawyer or a representative to defend him during the investigation and trail stages.

Article Sixty-fourth:  During the investigation, the accused shall have the right to seek the assistance of a representative or an attorney. The Investigator shall conduct an investigation in the commission of any major crimes as herein provided for. He may also investigate other crimes if the circumstances of or gravity of the case so require or may file a lawsuit to have the accused appear directly before the competent court.

Article Sixty-ninth: The accused, the victim, the claimant in respect of the private right action, and their respective representatives or attorneys may attend all the investigation proceedings. The Investigator may, however, conduct the investigation in the absence of all or some of the above mentioned, whenever that is deemed necessary for determining the truth. Immediately after the necessity has ended, he shall allow them to review the investigation

Article Seventy: The Investigator shall not, during the investigation, separate the accused from his accompanying representative or attorney. The representative or attorney shall not intervene in the investigation except with the permission of the Investigator. In all cases, the representative or attorney may deliver to the Investigator a written memorandum of his comments and the Investigator shall attach that memorandum to the file of the case.

Article Nineteen Hundred: In all cases, the Investigator shall order that the accused may not communicate with any other prisoner or detainee, and that he not be visited by anyone for a period not exceeding sixty days if the interest of the investigation so requires, without prejudice to the right of the accused to communicate with his representative or attorney.
5. Without disabled allowing the human rights organizations to see and meets with Mr. Quraish.
6. Ensure the full rights during all stages of the period of detention, to enable him to meet and communicate and visit with his lawyer and his family.

The European Saudi society for the human rights call to all local and regional organizations and international the need to pursue all aspects for the detainee Mr. Salman Quraish, and work to stop all the illegal violations against him. We emphasize that according to our information and data available to us, Mr. Quraish is not the only case, where there are a lot of similar cases that have signed serious violations against them, and we are doing our part to publish and address the relevant to the international organizations and asking them for help.