JEDDAH, 7 December 2004 — The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has criticized the conditions prevailing in some Saudi prisons.
The negative observation was contained in a report on the activities of its inspection and follow-up committee which included visits to the prisons in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Taif and Jizan. The committee deals with complaints and follows up on the cases brought up by individuals and the media.
The NSHR has forwarded to the Ministry of Interior the complaints it received from 47 prisoners or their families about delays in getting a court hearing, being imprisoned even after serving their terms, being forced to confess or detained just out of suspicion.
The negative observations about the prison conditions include overcrowding, months of delay in releasing some prisoners — especially expatriates whose sponsors refuse to buy them air tickets or who don’t have a sponsor, and prolonged detention without trial which is in violation of the system that states a detainee should not be kept more than six months without a hearing.
The report pointed out the long distance between Riyadh’s Al-Hair prison and the court saying that the distance is a problem in the daily transport of the detainees. It also noted that judges do not visit the detainees in prison to review their cases.
The NSHR reports on the poor medical services in some prisons where there are not enough medical personnel, medication or psychologists and sociologists. Some prisoners complained that public prosecutors visited them only a few times to follow up on their cases and that there were discrepancies in the sentencing for similar crimes. The prisoners did not know their rights in getting a lawyer, the cells were poorly furnished, and lack of privacy in the bathrooms. Young offenders are kept in the same cells as hardened criminals. The spread of smoking, inadequate services for prisoners’ families and very old prison buildings — some of them over 50 years old — and poor maintenance are other observations made.
The female prisoners complained of excesses while carrying out sentences of flogging. A woman who witnessed the whipping told Arab News that it was an awful sight. “The guards strip them of most of their clothing and you can see the marks and blood on their body,” she said.
Explaining the conditions inside jails, a female prison guard said overcrowding was a major problem. “We do have periods of overcrowding and then they clear out,” she told Arab News on condition of anonymity.
She said female prisoners on death row are kept in solitary confinement. The prisoners receive SR60 monthly salary with which they can buy whatever they want through a shopper who visits them once a week and take their requests.
People also remember them by sending clothes during Eid and Ramadan. Some prisoners ask to work in cleaning, doing laundry or in the cafeteria and they get paid. They have visitors twice a week and a nurse is available at the prison hospital everyday.
“Most female prisoners here have been serving terms for immoral behavior, theft and murder. Recently we saw an increase in cases related to drug smuggling, trafficking and selling,” she said. The guards treat the prisoners kindly because they are already suffering enough by being in prison and they help them rehabilitate.
“Relationship among the inmates themselves is another matter. At times they fight and at times they sing and dance,” she said.
The NSHR said it had received 519 written complaints. This does not include inquiries and complaints on phone. The majority of the complaints concern breach of rights by government agencies (25%), followed by labor-related complaints (17%). The society received 11 complaints of an international nature and has taken care of some and is in the process of resolving the others with the human rights agencies in the relevant countries.
