I ett brev till ledande företrädare för Saudiarabien uppmanar Akademiernas kommitté för mänskliga rättigheter till frigivning av ekonomen Mohammad Fahad Muflih al-Qahtani. Efter att ha avtjänat ett 10-årigt fängelsestraff för sitt arbete för mänskliga rättigheter har han sedan 2022 fortsatt hållits häktad på oklara grunder.
Brevet i sin helhet:
Stockholm 1 September 2023
Your Excellency,
We, the Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies, write respectfully to seek your urgent assistance with the case of Dr. Mohammad Fahad Muflih al-Qahtani, a Saudi economist who has served a 10-year prison sentence because of his peaceful human rights advocacy. Although Dr. al-Qahtani’s prison sentence ended in November 2022, he remains in state custody, where he has been subjected to incommunicado detention for more than eight months.
We understand that Dr. al-Qahtani is now being held in Riyadh Correctional Facility while under investigation for criminal offenses he allegedly committed while in prison. To the best of our knowledge, no information about these new charges has been made public or shared with his family. Moreover, Dr. al-Qahtani has been prevented from communicating with his family since October 2022, and he has been denied access to a lawyer, in violation of international human rights standards. Given that he was attacked and repeatedly threatened by other prisoners in the weeks prior to his forced isolation and is believed to be suffering from deteriorated health, we are deeply concerned about his well-being.
In light of the information above, we respectfully request your help in ensuring that Dr. al-Qahtani is promptly released from detention so that he may reunite with his wife and children, who reside in the United States. In the interim, we ask that immediate measures be taken to ensure his personal safety and well-being in Riyadh Correctional Facility, including access to his family, legal counsel, and any medical care that he may need.
We thank you in advance, Your Excellency, for your attention to this important matter.
Peter Pagin
Professor, Chair of the Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies
Akademiernas kommitté för mänskliga rättigheter består av representanter från Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien, Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, Svenska Akademien och Sveriges unga akademi.
