AI: Saudi Arabia Must Stop Playing “Cat and Mouse” Game with Protesters

Amnesty International censured Saudi Arabia for their treatment of peaceful protesters in a statement it published on Friday.

“Hundreds of people detained in Saudi Arabia in the wake of a protest against the incarceration without charge or trial of their relatives must be immediately and unconditionally released,” the statement mentioned.
At least 176 men and women were arrested in early hours of Friday morning after staging a peaceful protest outside the Bureau for Investigation and Public Prosecution in Buraida, north Riyadh.

The detainees called for the release of more than 50 women and children detained for their participation in another peaceful demonstration complaining about the incarceration of their relatives.
“This cat and mouse game authorities in Saudi Arabia are playing is outrageous,” Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International stated.

“Instead of persecuting peaceful protesters, what the Saudi Authorities should do is listen to their demands and release all those held solely for exercising their human rights,” he added.

“There is no justification for the long-standing ban on demonstrations in Saudi Arabia. The authorities must respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and release the protesters immediately and unconditionally,” Luther reiterated.
Those who criticize the government are often held incommunicado without charge, sometimes in solitary confinement, and denied access to lawyers or the courts to challenge the legality of their detention, the organization reported.
Torture is frequently used to extract confessions from detainees, to punish them for refusing to “repent”.