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World Organization Against TortureGlobal network fighting against torture and other humans rights violations |
Print version. Published on 202.ip-51-77-231.eu Original: /violence-against-women/reports-and-publications/2019/06/d25402/ |
40 Organisations urge the UN Human Rights Council to hold
Saudi Arabia accountable

WORLD | 26 June 2019 – As the Special Rapporteur
Agnes Callamard presents today to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council
(HRC) her findings into the extrajudicial killing of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi, 40 civil society organisations publish a letter sent to 48
ministries of Foreign Affairs from all regional groups at the UN, urging them
to establish a mechanism to report on the human rights violations in the
country and urge the Saudi government to immediately and unconditionally
release all those arbitrarily detained, abolish the male guardianship system, and
establish an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
“No State is above scrutiny for its human
rights record,” said the organisations.
The
organisations highlighted that the provisional release of some activists
demonstrates that HRC scrutiny can contribute to positive human rights outcomes
on the ground, particularly with respect to the cases of detained women human
rights defenders. But for this scrutiny to remain effective, it must be
sustained.
Over
a dozen Saudi women human rights defenders were arrested mid-May 2018 after the
lift of the driving ban. Some of them were tortured and threatened with rape,
yet no perpetrator has been held accountable. In March 2019, 36 countries at
the HRC called on Saudi Arabia to release all individuals detained for exercising their
fundamental freedoms, including ten women human rights defenders who were
individually named.
Since
then, several of them were referred to trial after almost ten months of
detention without a charge, but they are facing unfair trials; seven were
provisionally released; and many have not been charged nor referred to trial
and remain arbitrarily detained. The authorities’ crackdown on freedom of
expression has continued. In April 2019, the Saudi government arrested at least
fourteen bloggers, writers and family members of women human rights defenders.
This included the son of Aziza Al Youssef, one of the women’s rights activists
that was provisionally released on 28 March 2019.
The
next hearing of the women human rights defenders is scheduled for 27 June, when
defender Samar Badawi will appear for the first time.
The
human rights situation in Saudi Arabia has also deteriorated on other fronts,
including through the increased use of the death penalty. Many of the 37
individuals who were executed on 23 April 2019 had been tortured into
confessing and all of the individuals were convicted in unfair trials.
On
the 19th of June 2019, UN Special rapporteur on extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary executions Dr. Agnes Callamard released her report on her investigation into the
murder of Khashoggi which found that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible
for his extrajudicial execution.
Callamard
highlighted that the “operation against Khashoggi has to
be understood in relation to this organized and coordinated crack-down, one
that included repeated unlawful acts of torture and physical harm” and that
“impunity has been found repeatedly to be a major driver of the high incidence
of murders of journalists and human rights defenders.”
The
government’s zero-tolerance policy for any form of dissent hit particularly
hard the brave women’s rights activists, who were tortured and are still
languishing behind bars, over a year after their arrest.
Saudi
Arabia, as a member of the HRC, is obligated to uphold the highest standards
for the promotion and protection of human rights and to cooperate fully with
HRC mechanisms. It should immediately implement the recommendations issued by
the Special Rapporteur, which include “demonstrating
non-repetition by: releasing all individuals imprisoned for the peaceful
expression of their opinion and belief; independently investigating all
allegations of torture and lethal use of force in formal and informal places of
detention; and independently investigating all allegations of enforced
disappearances and making public the whereabouts of individuals disappeared”.
The letter to 48 governments is part of the
ongoing advocacy of national, regional and international civil society
organisations to push for the immediate and
unconditional release of Saudi activists and guarantee that they can continue
their activism without threat of reprisal.
letter_to_state.pdf