KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Head of state and government: King Fahd Bin 'Abdul 'Aziz Al-Saud
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: not signed

Gross human rights violations continued and were exacerbated by the government policy of "combating terrorism" in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the USA. The violations were perpetuated by the strictly secretive criminal justice system and the prohibition of political parties, trade unions and independent human rights organizations. Hundreds of suspected religious activists and critics of the state were arrested, and the legal status of most of those held from previous years remained shrouded in secrecy. Women continued to suffer severe discrimination. Torture and ill-treatment remained rife. At least 48 people were executed. Over 5,000 Iraqi refugees continued to live in Rafha camp as virtual prisoners. International non-governmental human rights organizations were denied access to the country and the government failed to respond to any of the concerns raised by AI during the year.

Background
Against a background of continuing gross human rights violations, the international community continued to scrutinize the country's human rights record and the government enacted a number of laws that could have a positive impact.
In May the UN Committee against Torture examined Saudi Arabia's implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and urged it to bring legislation and practice into line with the letter and spirit of the Convention. In October the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers visited Saudi Arabia – the first UN Special Rapporteur ever to visit the country. In his preliminary observations, he noted that "the legal system is undergoing substantial changes both structurally and procedurally".
The government enacted a code of criminal procedures and a law to regulate the legal profession. According to the Special Rapporteur, "Implementing regulations for the criminal procedures code have been issued… and the government has commenced the process of registering lawyers and intends on finishing registration within five years." However, the Special Rapporteur noted that "many of these new laws have taken a long time to implement". AI did not have details of these changes and was unable to assess whether they adequately address the issue of the secrecy of the criminal justice system.
The government submitted its report to the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in December 2001 and a supplementary report in July 2002. Both documents provided details of measures taken by the government to "combat terrorism" without reference to any provisions to ensure protection of human rights. In practice, the government used the issue of "combating terrorism" to aggravate the already dire human rights situation in the country.

Prisoners of conscience and political prisoners
Hundreds of suspected religious activists and government critics were reportedly arrested during the year and the legal status of most of those held from previous years remained secret. About a dozen possible prisoners of conscience were released, but the legal status of scores of others held from previous years remained unclear.
The pattern of arrests which began in the wake of 11 September 2001 continued. The government estimated that around 700 people had been questioned and that more than 100 remained in detention at the end of 2002. Opposition sources estimated that several hundred people continued to be held. Most of those held were targeted for arrest by Saudi Arabia's security forces, but some were handed to the government by other countries, including Iran and Yemen. The names of the detainees were kept secret, and except in a few cases where the suspects were allegedly planning violent attacks, the government justified the arrests solely on the basis of vague references to "terrorism" and "suspicion of connection with al-Qa'ida". None of those held was given access to lawyers or was known to have had judicial proceedings brought against them. It was not known if they were allowed family visits.
Other people were arrested for trying to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and conscience.
□ In March 'Abdul Muhsin Musalam, a poet, was reportedly arrested and detained for having written a poem entitled The Corrupt on Earth, which criticized judges in Saudi Arabia. His poem was published in al-Madina newspaper. The editor of al-Madina was subsequently dismissed apparently for allowing publication of the poem. 'Abdul Muhsin Musalam was detained for approximately 14 days before he was released without being charged or tried.
□ In April 'Abdul Hamid al-Mubarak, a 47-year-old professor at the University of King Faisal in al-Ihsa, was arrested in Dahran following demonstrations against Israel's military attacks on Palestinians. The Deputy Minister of the Interior reportedly told Okaz newspaper that the professor was being held so that legal proceedings could be brought against him.
□ In July Sa'd bin Sa'id Zua'ir, aged 28, was arrested at Riyadh airport. He was apparently planning to travel to Qatar to be interviewed by al-Jazeera television in order to raise awareness of his father's detention in Saudi Arabia. His father, Sa'id bin Zua'ir, a government critic and former head of the department of information at Imam Muhammad Ibn Sa'ud University, had been detained without charge or trial since his arrest in 1995. Both father and son remained held without charge or trial at the end of the year.

Women's rights
The debate on women's rights continued and steps were taken by the government that could constitute the beginning of a challenge to the severe forms of discrimination suffered by women. The gravity of this discrimination was highlighted in March by the death of 15 girls and the injury of dozens of others during a fire at a school in Mecca housing 800 girls. There were concerns that the girls may have been victims of the strict application by the Mutawa'een (religious police) of the policy of segregating the sexes. Some eyewitnesses said that the Mutawa'een prevented the girls from escaping because they were not wearing headscarves and because their male relatives were not there to receive them. The Mutawa'een were also said to have prevented rescuers from entering the school because they were men. The government denied the involvement of the Mutawa'een, apparently on the basis of an investigation it had carried out. AI called for a transparent investigation into the incident and the bringing to justice of anyone responsible for the deaths. It did not receive a reply.
In the wake of the tragedy the government dismissed the head of girls' education and united the department with the Ministry of Education for Boys. Many people urged the integration of the curriculum too – the policy of the former girls' education body limited the teaching of girls to "disciplines suitable to her disposition as a woman".
Officials, including ministers, made announcements on other women's issues during the year. These included: consideration of allowing practices for women lawyers; a project to look into the problem of unemployment among women; the recruitment of 100 women prison police personnel; attendance by women at the all-male Consultative Council's discussions of issues affecting women; and plans to set up a special unit to tackle violence in the home. While these measures may reflect an emerging consciousness about the severe forms of discrimination suffered by women, the eradication of such discrimination remained far from reality.
Torture and ill-treatment
The UN Committee against Torture called on Saudi Arabia to incorporate torture in its domestic legislation as a punishable crime as defined in Article 1 of the UN Convention against Torture. It also called on Saudi Arabia to re-examine the imposition of judicial corporal punishments, provide redress for victims of torture and ill-treatment, and ensure punishment of the perpetrators. However, allegations of torture continued to be reported and no measure of redress was known to have been applied. Judicial corporal punishments, including bodily mutilation, were routinely imposed and carried out.
Torture in detention
Allegations of torture of suspects arrested during the year and of those arrested in previous years were reported. Dozens of people, including women and children arrested in April after demonstrations in support of the Palestinian intifada (uprising), were reportedly beaten.
One former possible prisoner of conscience released in March said that he had been shackled hand and foot, beaten and deprived of sleep. The lawyers of Alexander Mitchell and William Sampson (see below) stated that that their clients had suffered physical and mental torture during their interrogation. No investigations into such allegations were known to have been carried out.
Flogging of children
Regional authorities continued to urge extrajudicial floggings by police of teenage boys suspected of "immoral" behaviour; scores of teenage boys were flogged during the year.
□ Fifteen boys suspected of "flirting and bothering" families in a park in Taif in August were flogged. According to one press report, "the youths were given 15 lashes each inside the park" by police immediately after they caught them.
Flogging
Flogging remained a routine corporal punishment handed down by courts as a main or additional sentence.
□ A woman was sentenced to 65 lashes in addition to six months' imprisonment in February. She was convicted of having committed adultery with her sister's husband, despite having reportedly claimed before the court that he had raped her. The man was sentenced to 4,700 lashes and six years' imprisonment.
Bodily mutilation
At least seven people, all foreign nationals, had their right hand amputated, and one man had two of his teeth extracted under qisas (retribution) punishment.
□ Abdulrahman Isma'il, an Egyptian national, and Shir Muhammad 'Ali Ahmad, an Afghan national, had their right hands amputated in Mecca in July. Both had been convicted of theft.
□ In May Awda al-Zahrani, a Saudi Arabian national, reportedly had two of his teeth extracted as a judicial punishment for having caused similar injury to someone during a fight. One press report suggested that the teeth were extracted by a dentist.
Refugees
More than 5,000 Iraqi refugees from the Gulf War of 1991 spent their 11th successive year as virtual prisoners in the Rafha military camp in the northern desert near the border with Iraq. The government continued to deny them the opportunity to seek asylum.

Death penalty
At least 48 people were executed. Twenty of them were foreign nationals. The Saudi Arabian nationals executed included three believed to have been convicted on charges of homosexuality. All 48 were sentenced to death after trials about which very little was known.
The number of prisoners under sentence of death was not known owing to the secrecy of the criminal justice system. Among those known to be facing execution were Siti Zainab, an Indonesian maid convicted of murdering her female employer in 1999; and Alexander Mitchell, a United Kingdom national, and William Sampson, a Canadian national, both of whom were reportedly sentenced to death on charges of lethal bombings which took place in Saudi Arabia in 2000. Their case was said to have been referred to the King for ratification of the sentence or clemency.
Two Saudi Arabian nationals sentenced to death for murder were pardoned under qisas, which gives relatives of the murder victim the right to pardon or seek execution of the offender. In December the King commuted the death sentences of 17 men from the Ismaili community to 10 years' imprisonment. The 17 men, who were among dozens arrested in April 2000 after protests by the Ismaili community in Najran against the closure of their mosque, were possible prisoners of conscience.

AI country reports/visits
Report
• Saudi Arabia remains a fertile ground for torture with impunity (AI Index: MDE 23/004/2002)
Visits
AI renewed its request to visit Saudi Arabia after Prince Sultan Bin 'Abdul 'Aziz Al-Saud reportedly said in September that he had no objection to AI visiting the country. However, AI did not receive a response.

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