Middle East Online 2007-02-15
Human Rights Watch urges Saudi King to permit 22 activists to travel to share their vision of Kingdom's future.
DUBAI - Human Rights Watch has urged Saudi Arabia to lift travel bans on prominent critics, saying such restrictions violate international law.
"By imposing travel bans, the Saudi government is restricting the movement of leading intellectuals diminishing their ability to work for a better future for the Saudi people," the rights group wrote in a letter to King Abdullah, according to a statement issued Wednesday.
In the letter sent on February 9, the New York-based watchdog detailed travel bans on 22 activists, including three prominent constitutional reform advocates who were only released from lengthy prison terms in August 2005 following a pardon by King Abdullah.
Ali al-Demaini, Abdullah al-Hamed and Matruk al-Faleh had been serving nine, seven and six years in jail respectively after being arrested in March 2004 along with nine others, on charges of demanding a constitutional monarchy.
One of those held in 2004, Mubarak bin Zuair, was later detained and then banned from travelling after protesting to the media that his father and brother had been jailed for speaking to the media.
HRW said Faleh, a professor of political science, has been unable to take up a sabbatical position in the United States because of the ban and that other academics have lost their jobs because of their outspoken views.
"These travel bans violate international human rights law which guarantees everyone the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country," HRW said.
HRW said that some individuals were told that their ban would last five years, none were told of the reasons and that Saudi courts have refused to hear challenges.
It accused the kingdom of wanting to "punish its critics and to prevent their views from reaching a foreign audience."
"If Saudi Arabia wants to improve its image abroad, it should allow its leading intellectuals to travel abroad and share their visions of the country's future," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW Middle East director.
"The Saudi royal family should ask itself how long it wants to continue banning, firing and arresting its critics, and at what cost."
Washington considers key ally Saudi Arabia a "moderate" regime in the region.
Human Rights Watch urges Saudi King to permit 22 activists to travel to share their vision of Kingdom's future.
DUBAI - Human Rights Watch has urged Saudi Arabia to lift travel bans on prominent critics, saying such restrictions violate international law.
"By imposing travel bans, the Saudi government is restricting the movement of leading intellectuals diminishing their ability to work for a better future for the Saudi people," the rights group wrote in a letter to King Abdullah, according to a statement issued Wednesday.
In the letter sent on February 9, the New York-based watchdog detailed travel bans on 22 activists, including three prominent constitutional reform advocates who were only released from lengthy prison terms in August 2005 following a pardon by King Abdullah.
Ali al-Demaini, Abdullah al-Hamed and Matruk al-Faleh had been serving nine, seven and six years in jail respectively after being arrested in March 2004 along with nine others, on charges of demanding a constitutional monarchy.
One of those held in 2004, Mubarak bin Zuair, was later detained and then banned from travelling after protesting to the media that his father and brother had been jailed for speaking to the media.
HRW said Faleh, a professor of political science, has been unable to take up a sabbatical position in the United States because of the ban and that other academics have lost their jobs because of their outspoken views.
"These travel bans violate international human rights law which guarantees everyone the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country," HRW said.
HRW said that some individuals were told that their ban would last five years, none were told of the reasons and that Saudi courts have refused to hear challenges.
It accused the kingdom of wanting to "punish its critics and to prevent their views from reaching a foreign audience."
"If Saudi Arabia wants to improve its image abroad, it should allow its leading intellectuals to travel abroad and share their visions of the country's future," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW Middle East director.
"The Saudi royal family should ask itself how long it wants to continue banning, firing and arresting its critics, and at what cost."
Washington considers key ally Saudi Arabia a "moderate" regime in the region.
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