Assassination Attempt on Prince Naif

Terror Breeds More Terror and Terrorists
Director’s Comment:

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR, condemns the attempt on Saudi Deputy Interior Minister, Prince Mohammed bin Naif ‘s life on August 28, 2009. CDHR calls on the Saudi ruling elites and their voiceless people to rethink their pre-modern system of tyrannical governance. The Ministry of Interior over which Prince Mohammed’s father has presided for about four decades is in charge of the country's domestic security. Mohammed and his father are in charge of the “religious” police whose ferocious members are empowered to terrorize the Saudi people in the guise of maintaining a “pure” Muslim society. Saudi Arabia under the management of the Saudi ruling princes has become notoriously known for terrorism, religious intolerance, extremism and suicide bombers, like the one who attempted to kill Prince Mohammed. To rid Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and the international community from religious extremism, suicide bombers and other forms of terrorism is to de-politicize Islam through profound transformation of Saudi religious and educational institutions and empowerment of the people, especially women, to save their country from their home grown extremist murderer.

Read more from The New York Times.

Saudi Human Rights Abuses in the Name of Fighting Terrorism

The Washington-based Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia has been highlighting the rampant miscarriage of justice in Saudi Arabia for years. The Saudi judicial system is based on the Shariah law, which does not recognize civil law and can easily be interpreted by the Saudi sectarian court system as presiding religious judges see fit.

In the past few weeks, both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have released extensive reports on Saudi human rights abuses in the name of fighting terrorism.

Saudi Arabia has held more than 9,000 people related to terrorism charges since 2003 and announced plans to try only a portion (less than 1000) of the detainees in October 2008. Since then, little information about the trials has been made available, including the names of prisoners to be tried and whether they will have access to a lawyer. Amnesty International reports that those who have gone to trial have been subject to “grossly unfair and secret proceedings.” The legal limit for imprisonment without trial in Saudi Arabia is six months.

Some prisoners have been tried and have completed their sentences, yet continue to be held indefinitely. Other prisoners are forced to undergo religious reeducation in place of trials.

Saudi Arabia lacks a penal code and instead relies on Shariah law. Without specified criminal offenses, the judiciary has wide powers to impose brutal sentences, including the death penalty, and follow various interpretations of the religious law.

This denial of human rights, by denying trials to thousands of prisoners, setting up unjust, underground trials for a few, and imposing religious counseling should be condemned. The Saudi royal family should recognize the necessity for immediate judicial reform and begin to resolve this abusive situation by releasing detainees held beyond the legal six months and providing fair, public trials with impartial sentences.

Read the report from Human Rights Watch: Human Rights and Saudi Arabia's Counterterrorism Response and an overview of the report.

Read Amnesty International's report: Saudi Arabia: Assaulting Human Rights in the Name of Counter-Terrorism and coverage from The New York Times.