Human rights org calls for UN intervention to release Saudi preacher ‘Al-Awda’

BERN, Jan. 28 (YPA) – A Swiss human rights organization has called on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to intervene in Saudi Arabia for the release of the arrested preacher, “Dr. Salman Al-Awda.”

The Geneva-based “Alkarama” organization demanded that independent doctors be allowed to visit Al-Awda to assess and report his condition and needs.

According to a tweet written by Abdullah, Al-Awda’s son, on Twitter, Alkarama organization wrote to the United Nations committee, asking it to intervene with the Saudi authorities regarding the prominent scholar Dr. al-Awda, who was arbitrarily detained, and to stop the reprisals against his family.”

Earlier this month, Abdullah revealed that his father had been tortured inside his prison, blindfolded, and his hands were tied inside the cell, deprived of sleep for continuous days, and deprived of treatment.

In September 2017, the Saudi authorities arrested prominent preachers and activists in the country, most notably Salman Al-Awda, Awadh Al-Qarni, and Ali Al-Omari, on charges of terrorism and conspiracy against the state, amid demands from international and Islamic personalities and organizations for their release.

Alkarama is a Geneva-based non-governmental human rights organization, established in 2004 to assist all those in the Arab world subjected to or at risk of extrajudicial execution, enforced disappearance, torture, and arbitrary detention.

YPA