Hamas Calls on Saudi Arabia to Release Senior Figure over His Worsening Health Condition

By Staff, Agencies

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has called on Saudi authorities to immediately release its high-ranking official Muhammad al-Khudari, whose health has been deteriorating over the nearly three years he has been in prison in the kingdom.

Moussa Mohammed Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas political bureau, in a post published on his Twitter page on Wednesday, expressed serious concerns over further deterioration in the health of the 83-year-old Palestinian.

He asked Saudi officials to urgently free Khudari and his son, Hani, along with all other Palestinians being incarcerated in Saudi jails.

“Dr. Muhammad al-Khudari, 83, is in critical health condition. He is being held without charge, along with his son and other Palestinians. We call on Saudi authorities to release them immediately, taking into account their humanitarian situation,” Abu Marzouk tweeted.

Moreover, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Khudari “suffers from serious health problems while being kept in detention in Saudi Arabia.”

He told the Arabic service of Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency that the high-ranking Hamas official is being detained without “any charge and irrespective of the fact that he has not committed any offense.”

“All that Khudari did was to support the Palestinian cause, and the legitimate public struggle against the Occupation [‘Israeli’ regime],” Qassem said.

The Hamas spokesman called on Saudi authorities to “immediately release Khudari and all other [Palestinian] detainees.”

Dr. Khudari and his son Hani were arbitrarily arrested on April 4, 2019 and remained in detention without charge until March 8 last year.

Both men were forcibly disappeared for one month after their arrest, and held incommunicado and in solitary confinement for the next two months of their detention.

A month into the senior Hamas official’s detention, his wife received a phone call from authorities in the maximum-security Dhahban Prison near the Red Sea port city of Jeddah requesting his medical records. Two weeks prior to his arrest, Dr. Khudari had undergone surgery.

Dr. Khudari is currently being held in al-Hair Prison in Riyadh, while his son is detained in Dhahban Prison.

Khudari has been living in Saudi Arabia for over 30 years, and represented Hamas between mid-1990s and 2003 in Saudi Arabia. His son is a university professor and has no political affiliation.