JEDDAH, 10 April 2006 — The case of a journalist arrested for posting comments on the Internet has been transferred from the Interior Ministry’s Commission for Prosecution and Investigation to a summary court in Hail, the detained journalist’s lawyer said yesterday.
Lawyer Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, who is defending Rabah Al-Quwayi, 24, said he met his client in the detention center yesterday. “Regardless of the surroundings, Rabah is in high spirits,” Al-Lahem told reporters.
Al-Quwayi has been in detention since April 3 after he was called from Riyadh to Hail regarding complaints he filed in November about harassment over comments he posted on the Internet. At the time, the reporter lived in Hail and worked part-time for the daily Okaz. Since then he moved to Riyadh to work for the daily newspaper Shams.
Al-Quwayi was called to Hail ostensibly to fill out paperwork regarding his complaint, but when he arrived he was told that his complaint has been dismissed and he was detained on the spot.
