Dozens of Peole arrested after demo outside Tarfiya prison by US-backed Saudi regime

Saudi security forces have detained dozens of people who had staged a demonstration near a prison in central Saudi Arabia, demanding the release of their relatives.

The arrests were made on Monday after Saudi forces confined around 100 Saudis, including women and children, to make them desert the area near Tarfiya prison in Qassim Province, Saudi activists said.

The crowd was forced to leave the location and was chased by security forces, who later stopped the cars and detained the men.

“As for the gathering of a limited number of relatives of the detained people at a prison, they have been stopped according to legal procedures and will be dealt with if they are found in violation of the laws,” a Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman said.

In another incident in the capital Riyadh on same day, Saudi protesters and families of prisoners gathered in front of the Saudi Human Rights Commission.

Saudi Arabia has been under fire for its human rights record especially for the detention of many anti-government protesters since the onset of a popular uprising in the country last year.

Rights activists say hundreds of political prisoners remain locked up in Saudi jails under harsh conditions and without access to a lawyer.

People are randomly arrested by the Saudi police just for looking suspicious, and are held behind bars for years before they are even charged.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Saudi regime ”routinely represses expression critical of the government.”

Since February 2011, protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah in the Eastern Province, to call for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.