Jordanians protest Saudi inmate abuse

Thu Mar 3, 2011

Jordanians have staged a sit-in protest in front of the Saudi embassy in the capital Amman, urging Riyadh to release their countrymen that it has jailed without any charges.

The Wednesday move was attended by scores of Jordanians, including those who had their family members incarcerated in Saudi prisons, as well as a number of human rights campaigners, Xinhua reported.

The demonstrators held up pictures of the detainees and banners, pleading with Saudi King Abdullah for the release of the inmates.

"We ask the Saudi king and the Saudi ambassador to Jordan to release Jordanian prisoners in Saudi Arabia. Some of the prisoners have been held in the country for four to seven years without trial," said one protester.

Another demonstrator introduced himself as the brother of a prisoner "who has been in a Saudi jail since 2007."

"I request the Saudi king to release him. This is everyone's demand here," she said.

Both countries have recently been witnessing popular display of censure at their rights record. The pro-democracy wave has been set off by the recent revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, which ended in deposition of the countries' heads of state.

Last month, a demonstration was held in the oil-producing Eastern Saudi province of Qatif against undue incarcerations.

Most recently, a group of women took to the streets of the kingdom to object to their husbands' having been forced to endure at least 15 years of detention in Saudi prisons without trial.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168045.html.