Follow-up of Sheikh Al-Nemer’s Prosecution: Fifth Trial, Secret.
European Saudi Society for Human
Rights
23/04/2014
 |
| Sheikh Nemer Al-Nemer |
The
fifth trial of Sheikh Nemer Al-Nemer held on Tuesday morning 22/04/2014, just 5
days since the fourth trial. The fifth trial was done entirely in secret to the
point where even Al-Nemer’s lawyer and family know about it, where they later
found out through local official newspapers that published the details of the
trial.
Unlike
the first article of “The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers”, which
states “All persons are entitled
to call upon the assistance of a lawyer of their choice to protect and
establish their rights and to defend them in all stages of criminal proceedings[1]”, Al-Nemer’s lawyer was not
informed of the hearing and he denied Alriyadh Newspaper report that states “his
failure to attend the hearing[2]”
through his personal Twitter account. “The newspaper statement of my failure
to attend the hearing is untrue, and the truth is that I was not informed about
it[3]”, Al-Nemer’s
lawyer tweet. Al-Nemer’s family visited him one day before the fifth trail but
were not informed either, nor Al-Nemer himself.
Al-Nemer
is disallowed from having a pen and papers to write out his defense to the
charges issued by the public prosecutor that published on 25/03/2013 which is
more than a year already, he was allowed to have a pen and some paper after the
fourth trial and taken again before last Monday, but it was not enough to
respond to more than 30 charges and death penalty in such a limited time with
limited stock of paper. Al-Nemer has been detained in a solitary confinement in
the Security Forces Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
According
to the only witness of the fifth trial, Alriyadh Newspaper, the public
prosecutor charges are based on Al-Nemer’s confession; his Khutbah; the arrest
and search reports and statements of ten witnesses.
We
in the European Saudi Society for Human Rights (ESSHR) highlights that the
trial of Sheikh Al-Nemer did not comply with international standards of fair
trial, as many violations were committed during the pre-trial period including his
“right to counsel; prompt appearance before a judge to challenge the
lawfulness of arrest and detention; challenging the chargers; providing adequate
time and facilities to prepare a defense; presumption of innocence and
providing an appropriate humane[4]”.
Also,
many violations were committed during the trial period phase, including his
rights to “a specialized court, a trial by a competent, independent and
impartial tribunal established by law; public hearing; the right to call and examine witnesses and the right to trial
within a reasonable time or to release from detention[5]”.
The
next trial is still unknown or if it is even scheduled.
We
in the ESSHR are very concerned about continuous unfair trial of Sheikh Al-Nemer.
We demand the immediate unconditional release, holding the Saudi authorities’
fully responsible and stressing that non-compliance with fair trial standards
will make any decision made by the court unjust, therefore, illegal.
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Sheikh Al-Nemer’s Prosecution (25/03/2013-22/04/2014)
|
Order
|
Date
|
Timetable
|
Note
|
|
1st
Trial
|
25/03/2013
|
Took place 260
days after of detention
|
Faced 33
charges by the public prosecutor, and demands death penalty
|
|
2nd Trial
|
29/04/2013
|
After 35 days of the 1st trial
|
Public prosecution did not submit a copy of
list to the defense, therefore, the defense could not respond to the charges
and the trial ended without scheduling a specific date of the 3rd
trial
|
|
3rd
Trial
|
23/12/2013
|
After 238
days of the 2nd trial
|
One day
before the hearing, the lawyer explained that Sheikh Al-Nemer did not get a
pen and paper to write a response to the charges. The meeting lasted 5
minutes and ended without scheduling a specific date of the 4th
trial
|
|
4th Trial
|
15/04/2014
|
After 113 days of the 3rd trial
|
The lawyer
was surprisingly informed one day before the trial, where he was attending a
court hearing of his client, Sheikh Tawfiq Al-Amer at the Specialized
Criminal Court on Monday 14/04/2014.
The meeting
lasted about an hour and ended without scheduling a specific date of the next
trial
|
|
5th
Trial
|
22/04/2014
|
After 5 days
of 4th trial
|
The lawyer
nor the Al-Nemer family were informed about the trial date and time,
therefore, Al-Nemer couldn’t fully respond due to the limited stock of paper
he has and couldn’t consult the lawyer about his written defense.
|
Follow up for the fourth trial of Sheikh Nemer Al-Nemer, 17/04/2014
http://goo.gl/QvlE5m
If blocking in Saudi Arabia http://goo.gl/gG06K9
[1]Human
Rights Education Associates (HREA): Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=223&erc_doc_id=303&category_id=13&category_type=3&group=
[2] Al
Riyadh Newspaper: “The Accused of fomenting sectarian strife submit his
answer after prevarication for 5th trial”
[3] Personal
Twitter account tweets of Sheikh AlNemer’s lawyer, Dr. Sadeq Jubran, denies
knowing about the date of the trial.
[4] Amnesty:
Fair Trials Manual
[5] same
as the previous source
