freedetainees.org

By RASHA AL QAHTANI

BAHRAIN human rights activists and their Saudi counterparts are trying to track down the whereabouts of Abdulraheem Al Murbati, who was last being held without charge in a Saudi prison. The Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) said the Saudi Human Rights Commission would request the Interior Ministry there to provide them with information about Mr Al Murbati.

His family on Monday said they had been unable to locate Mr Al Murbati and hadn’t seen him for three weeks.

Mr Al Murbati was arrested in Riyadh in June 2003 and held in prison at the Saudi capital where he was allowed monthly family visits.

But the management of Al Haer prison south of Riyadh recently told the family that he had been transferred to another jail in the south-western province of Assir.

A Bahraini official had said on Monday, who requested anonymity, that Mr Al Murbati was not in Bahrain.

He said he was still in Riyadh and Bahraini authorities were in touch with their Saudi counterparts to arrange a family visit.

The human rights activists, who met yesterday, are also trying to secure the release of Mr Al Murbati and another detainee Khalil Janahi, who is also being held without charge in a Saudi prison.

Mr Janahi was arrested along with a group of men, including Mr Al Murbati, suspected of being members of Al Qaeda. However, they are yet to be convicted of a crime.

“I met the commission in Saudi and asked them if they knew about the whereabouts of Mr Al Murbati, but they had no clue,” said BHRWS regional and international director Faisal Fulad.

“They said they would be sending the Interior Ministry a letter requesting to know the whereabouts of the detainee, in addition to information we requested that may secure the release of both men.”

Mr Fulad said once they received the letter, they would be notified of any news relating to both men sometime next week.

Mr Al Murbati’s sister Umm Ebrahim said that since their last visit to Al Haer Prison, they have not heard anything about him.

“We were informed that he would be transferred to Al Assir Prison, but it has been three weeks now and we have not heard anything about him,” she said.

“I keep calling both prisons and they keep telling me that they have no idea where my brother is.

“I hope my family and I soon hear some good news and know that he is well. If he is charged with anything, then let him be tried and brought back to Bahrain. We want to see him more often.”

Mr Al Murbati’s mother took her dying wish last month, to see him for the first time in five years, to the grave.

However, 76-year-old Mariam Abdulraheem Darwish was never told that her son was being held without charge in a Saudi prison the whole time.

He, in turn, has not been told that his mother has died.

Ms Darwish believed the father-of-six had gone abroad to study for a PhD, but died on Friday without being given a chance to speak to him one last time.

But relatives said Ms Darwish spoke about her “missing” son for hours before she died.

Mr Al Murbati’s children include his sons Osama, 20, Abdulla, 16, and Zobair, nine, along with his daughters Asma, 23, Maria, 13, and Aiysha, 12.

The family hoped earlier that His Majesty King Hamad would intervene in Mr Al Murbati’s case and help fast-track his release.

National Detainees Committee president and Al Menbar MP Mohammed Khalid Mohammed is spearheading the family’s case in parliament after they complained that Mr Al Murbati was being mistreated.

Mr Mohammed had called for Mr Al Murbati to be moved to a prison closer to Bahrain.

The GDN reported earlier that Mr Murbati was captured in his home in Madina Al Munawwara, Saudi Arabia.

His wife Somaya said he was originally being held in a communal jail, but had spent recent years in solitary confinement.

The family moved back to Bahrain in the summer of last year after living in Riyadh for almost eight years.

Somaya has been undergoing physiotherapy for the past four months to help restore some of the movement she lost as a result of a stroke.

July 10th, 2008 | Category: Abdulraheem Al Murbati, Activists, Bahrain, Ghost, Saudi Arabia |  Print This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL