Jailed Saudi Activist on Hunger Strike

Local Editor

Imprisoned Saudi human rights lawyer and activist Waleed Abulkhair has begun a hunger strike in protest at ill-treatment by regime authorities, a rights watchdog said on Thursday.

An appeals court in February last year upheld a 15-year jail term against Abulkhair on a series of charges including "inciting public opinion".

"The prison administration has not allowed him to take medical tests, prevented him from ordering appropriate foods that suit his health condition, and continues to prevent him from special visits or reading books or daily newspapers," the Gulf Centre for Human Rights said.

Abulkhair started his hunger strike on Tuesday at his prison in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, said the rights group which has offices in Beirut and Copenhagen.

It condemned prison administrators for "targeting" Abulkhair and called for his immediate release.

Abulkhair last year won the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize, awarded by European bar associations to lawyers who defend human rights and fight intolerance and racism.

South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was the first recipient of the prize.

Abulkhair defended Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was arrested in 2012 and convicted of insulting Islam.

Badawi is serving 10 years in jail and has received 50 lashes of a 1,000-lash sentence that caused international outrage.

The two activists were nominated for last year's Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian member of parliament.

In July 2014, Abulkhair, who is a lawyer by profession and the head of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia [MHRSA], was convicted of a series of charges, including the incitement of the public opinion against the ruling Al Saud dynasty.

He was sentenced to 15 years in jail plus an additional 15-year ban on traveling. Abulkhair was also forced to pay a 200,000-Saudi riyal [over USD 53,000] fine.

Despite coming under attack for the verdict by international human rights organizations, Saudi authorities upheld the 15-year jail term against Abulkhair in an appeals court in February last year.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team