[CNN]
Activists: Saudi women arrested at detention protests
By Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN
February 10, 2013 -- Updated 0712 GMT (1512 HKT)
CNN.com
(CNN) -- Dozens of women and at least five children were arrested on Saturday
after demonstrations were held in two Saudi cities, Riyadh and Buraida,
according to human rights activists. The women were demanding the release of
relatives they say have been held for years without access to lawyers or a
trial, the activists said.
Mohammed Al-Qahtani, a prominent activist currently on trial in Saudi Arabia on
charges that include breaking allegiance to the Saudi king, told CNN the women
who were protesting are "female relatives of political prisoners."
"They are asking the authorities to either take these prisoners to court," said
Al-Qahtani, "or set them free."
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In the capital city of Riyadh, one activist who was part of the demonstration
said it was held outside a building that houses one of the country's
government-backed human rights groups.
The activist, who requested anonymity for fear for her safety, said she had to
quickly flee the scene to avoid arrest. About 50 women demonstrated there, and
at least two of them had been arrested as police tried to disperse the crowd,
she said.
"They went out there today to ask that their relatives be freed," said the
activist. "They have been in prison for a long time and have had no lawyer and
no trial."
According to two other activists, three of the women arrested in Riyadh were
the wife and daughter and granddaughter of Suleiman al-Rashudi, a political
activist who was arrested in December after giving a lecture in which he said
protests were permitted in Islam.
Al-Rashudi previously spent five years in detention and was found guilty last
year of, among other things, financing terrorism, incitement against the king
and attempting to seize power.
One amateur video purportedly shot at the scene shows women, some who brought
their children, chanting, "The people call for the liberation of the prisons."
In Buraida, the provincial capital of deeply conservative Qassim Province,
activists say at least 26 women protested and were arrested outside the city's
Board of Grievances on Saturday -- the scene of a similar protest in early
January.
Many of the women brought their children, who they say were also arrested.
One of the female protesters, Um Abdullah, spoke to CNN by phone as she was
being held in a police station in Buraida.
"I demonstrated for the release of my husband, Abdulmalek Al-Muqdin," explained
Um Abdullah, "who has been in jail without charge for 12 years."
According to Um Abdullah, whose son was detained alongside her, the police told
her and the other women that they would be released if they signed a piece of
paper that would compel them to show up at any government office if summoned to
do so, but the women refused to do so.
One amateur video posted online purports to show several of the women, and some
of the children, in the back of a police bus after having been detained. In the
video, the women express solidarity with the political prisoners in Saudi
Arabia.
Despite repeated efforts, CNN has been unable to reach Saudi Arabia's Interior
Ministry for comment. Protests are prohibited in Saudi Arabia.
In early January, a small group of women held a demonstration in the same part
of Buraida, calling for the release of detained family members. Their arrest, a
short time later, caused great outrage and sparked several days of small
protests in various cities.
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry confirmed to CNN later in the month that the
women were eventually all released.
When asked in late January about demonstrators' claims that their relatives are
political prisoners who should be released, Interior Ministry Spokesman Major
Gen. Mansour Al-Turki told CNN that Saudi government officials would not
comment on cases currently being "looked at by the courts.
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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