Human Rights Watch 2007
News and Releases
Compiled by Kandy Ringer
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Human Rights Watch 2007 News and Releases Compiled by Kandy Ringer |
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Saudi Arabia: Mentally Ill Prisoner Put in Solitary
HRW via BBSNews - New York, February 2, 2007 -- Saudi prison authorities should immediately provide specialized medical care and supervision for Hadi Al-Mutif, an Isma`ili man sentenced to death in 1996 in an unfair trial for having allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad, Human Rights Watch said today. Al-Mutif, who has been diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, attempted suicide twice last month after he was put in solitary confinement.
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Map of Saudi Arabia, 2005
Photo Credit: The University of Texas at Austin. |
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For the map shown above in it's full size, see Map of Saudi Arabia, 2005.
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On January 13, the Najran General Prison authorities placed Al-Mutif in solitary confinement, apparently as a punishment for contacting the US government-supported satellite television station Alhurra and sending them an amateur video of himself, which aired on January 22.
After five days in solitary confinement, Al-Mutif on January 18 attempted suicide first by ingesting metal objects. Three days after emergency surgery to remove the metal objects, prison officials returned him to solitary confinement. On January 25, he attempted suicide again and was rushed to hospital. Prison officials again returned him to solitary confinement two days later. Al-Mutif has reportedly received no psychiatric care in hospital or prison, even though a government hospital diagnosed him with a psychiatric condition in 1999.
"Instead of providing adequate medical care for a prisoner diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, the Saudi authorities threw Hadi Al-Mutif into solitary confinement," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said. "The government should immediately free this man and allow him to seek the medical care he needs."
Since his imprisonment in 1993, Al-Mutif’s mental health has significantly declined. In 1999, a special review panel of the psychiatric hospital in al-Ta’if, where he stayed for six months, found Al-Mutif "not responsible for his actions" and diagnosed him with depression since childhood. Since then, Al-Mutif has attempted suicide on several occasions, but has never received psychiatric care. Prison officials have also refused to allow his parents and siblings to see him in hospital or in prison over the past years.
In December, Al-Mutif told Human Rights Watch by telephone from prison that he saw little hope of gaining release. In October, Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to King Abdullah documenting Al-Mutif’s unfair trial and asked the king to pardon him. In early November, it appeared that the king had pardoned Al-Mutif. Prison officials processed him for release, but then returned him to his cell without explanation and released another prisoner in a similar case instead. In late November, King Abdullah notified Human Rights Watch that the Royal Court was following the case.
In 1996, Judge Muhammad al-`Askari of the Najran Court sentenced Al-Mutif to death for allegedly having uttered in December 1993 a phrase that the court deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. This judge, as well as others in the appeals process in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, exhibited a discriminatory bias against Al-Mutif’s minority Isma`ili Muslim faith, a brand of Shi`ism, as Human Rights Watch documented in its letter to the king. Al-Mutif’s trial was patently unfair and the judges failed to abide by the most basic standards of due process required under international law.
For example, Al-Mutif never received a written sentence explaining the reasons for his death sentence. After the Royal Court told Human Rights Watch in late November that a written verdict existed, his brother `Ali in early December petitioned the Royal Court for a copy. However, while officials told him that Al-Mutif had a file at the Royal Court (#109036, dated November 12, 2006 (20/10/1427)), they never provided a verdict.
"The Saudi government made a travesty of justice in Al-Mutif’s trial," Whitson said. "Rather than compounding this further, the government should release him at once."
International human rights law sets forth principles to ensure that mentally ill prisoners obtain adequate psychiatric treatment and are allowed communication with the outside world. The principles also establish limits on disciplinary actions such as solitary confinement. Placing Al-Mutif incommunicado in solitary confinement and failing to provide specialized psychiatric care violates these principles.
Human Rights Watch reiterated its call for King Abdullah to pardon and release Al-Mutif. The Saudi government should immediately release him from solitary confinement and provide expert medical care during and after detention. Human Rights Watch also renewed its call on King Abdullah to pardon Al-Mutif because he did not receive a fair trial.
For more information on Saudi Arabia and prison conditions, please see:
Human Rights Watch report, "Ill-Equipped: US Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness," 2003
Human Rights Watch World Report 2007, Saudi Arabia chapter
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