I was surprised by the great difference in the contents of two recent reports. I would have expected them to be very similar but that was not the case. The reports dealt with conditions in Saudi jails and were made by members of the National Society for Human Rights. Two teams from the commission — one of men and the other of women — visited Jeddah’s detention centers where overstayers and those who have violated the Kingdom’s laws are imprisoned.
The men’s center held some 5,000 prisoners but despite that number, Dr. Hussein Al-Sharif, the society’s supervisor for the Makkah Region which includes Jeddah, and his team had only two criticisms. The first concerned unhygienic conditions of the toilets and the second pointed out that detainees were unable to contact their families and Saudi sponsors.
Otherwise, according to Dr. Al-Sharif and his team, all was well; there was neither mistreatment nor anything else that needed improvement. Not only that but — again according to the team — each of the 5,000 prisoners enjoys meals that a Saudi citizen might not even dream of having at home.
Dr. Al-Sharif spent five hours at the center and ended his tour by sharing one of those delightfully delicious meals with the inmates. So much for conditions in the male detention center. What about the women’s center?
First of all even though there were only 1,600 women prisoners, many things needed improving. According to Al-Jawhara Al-Anqari, the society member who visited the women’s center, the women’s wards were overcrowded with more than 100 prisoners crowded into rooms meant for 50. Cases that should have been investigated and settled immediately had been unnecessarily delayed; services — including hygiene, rations, medical and social amenities — were far below the acceptable standard.
Al-Anqari also noted that Saudi female wardens and other employees were overworked and underpaid, that vendors took advantage of the situation and demand exorbitant prices for anything they sell to the prisoners, that some prisoners wore the same clothes for more than a month and that for the entire population of 1,600 prisoners, there was only one woman doctor in a sub-standard clinic.
Al-Anqari also reported overlapping jurisdictions on the part of authorities, long delays in processing paperwork which means prisoners are kept for long periods. She noted that some Saudi sponsors and foreign consulates were not doing enough to help the prisoners who are their responsibilities.
Do you now understand my surprise at the difference in the two reports? Can it all be due to the fact that women have sharper eyes and see things that men often miss? Or perhaps it is simply because Al-Anqari did not have one of those delicious meals that Dr. Al-Sharif enjoyed and praised.
