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PP RUEHDH RUEHROV
DE RUEHRH #0069/01 0121443
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121443Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2296
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDH/AMCONSUL DHAHRAN PRIORITY 0442
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 0552

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 000069 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP JHARRIS AND JBERNDT AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KISL PGOV KDEM OPDC SA
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS NGO SENDS OPEN LETTER TO SAUDI KING 
ABOUT JAILED ACTIVIST 
 
REF: BERNDT-RAM E-MAIL DATED 01/04/2010 
 
RIYADH 00000069  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On December 28, 2009 the unlicensed Civil 
and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) appealed to King 
Abdullah in an open letter to order the release from prison 
of 73-year old, well-known Human Rights activist, Suliman 
Al-Reshoudi.  The letter claimed that Al-Reshoudi, a former 
judge, is suffering "severe physical and psychological 
torture."  A copy of the letter was circulated by ACPRA via 
e-mail to embassies in Saudi Arabia and abroad, as well as to 
members of the press and to Human Rights organizations.  The 
letter has been widely circulated via the internet and 
received press coverage from Reuters and the BBC but not from 
any media outlets in Saudi Arabia.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The ACPRA's December 28 open letter to King Abdullah 
said ACPRA had "confirmed information" that Judge Al-Reshoudi 
had been subjected to severe physical and psychological 
torture during his three years in solitary confinement.  Most 
recently, according to the letter, Judge Al-Reshoudi's two 
feet were tied up with two separate chains, one tying the two 
feet together, the other tying the feet to the bed frame. 
During the day, the letter reported, the 73-year old is 
forced into a sitting position where he cannot relax or lie 
down and at night his feet are in shackles, depriving him of 
sleep.  The letter described how Judge Al-Reshoudi's wife and 
two young toddlers "burst into tears" upon seeing him during 
a recent prison visit.  ACPRA believes the treatment is in 
retaliation for Judge Al-Reshoudi's intention of joining 
ACPRA and is intended to send a threatening message to other 
Human Rights activists. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The letter describes Judge Al-Reshoudi as a 
widely-known Human Rights defender who had signed political 
reform petitions demanding a national constitution, rights 
for freedom of assembly, and the establishment of civil 
society institutions.  It comments that if the Interior 
Ministry could get away with inflicting "severe brutalities 
on activists," it could certainly get away with "torturing 
ordinary Saudis."  The letter asked "what kind of message is 
the Interior Ministry sending to Judge Al-Reshoudi's "young 
followers who admire his ideas of peaceful activities?" 
 
¶4. (SBU) The open letter calls for King Abdullah's 
intervention, challenging him to "prove his genuine 
intentions" by immediately releasing all political prisoners 
and bringing those involved in torture (from the Ministry of 
Interior) to justice.  The document names the following 
political prisoners: Professor Abdulrahman Al-Shomairi; Ali 
Khosifan Al-Qarni; Mousa Al-Qarni; Professor Saud Al-Hashemi; 
Fahd Al-Qurashi; Abdulrahman Bin Sadi; Saifaldeen Faisal 
Al-Sherif; and Mansour Salim Al-Otha.  Some of these 
activists have been detained since February 2007, when 
internal security police in Jeddah and Medina arrested Isam 
Basrawi and nine others with allegations that the activists 
were financing terrorism outside of the KSA.  Isam Basrawi 
was released for health reasons in September 2007. 
 
BACKGROUND ON ACPRA 
------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The ACPRA was founded on October 12, 2009 with the 
objectives of promoting Human Rights awareness in Saudi 
culture and of educating citizens on basic freedoms as 
prescribed by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 
according to its charter.  The ACPRA is not licensed.  (Note: 
Other rights organizations such as the Human Rights First 
Society, have had their applications for licenses languish 
for years due to alleged legal shortcomings of either the 
application or the organization.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) ACPRA announced its presence as an organization via 
an open letter to King Abdullah.  The organization has a 
website, which is currently blocked in the KSA, at 
www.ksarights.org.  The eleven founding members of the 
organization are academics and Human Rights activists, 
including Professor Abdulkareem Yousef Al-Khathar, Professor 
of Islamic Jurisprudence at Qassim University; Prof. Abdullah 
¶H. Al-Hamid; Fahad Abdulaziz Ali Al-Orani; Fowzan Mohsen 
Al-Harbi; Easa Hamid Al-Hamid; Mhana Mohammed Al-Faleh; Dr. 
Mohammad Fahad Al-Qahtani; Mohammad Fahad Almohaisen; 
Mohammed Saleh Albejadi; and Saud Ahmed Aldoughaither.  ACPRA 
founder Mohammad Al-Qahtani is an Assistant Professor of 
Economics at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Institute of 
Diplomatic Studies and enjoys high visibility, a position 
that affords him some protection from government harassment 
 
RIYADH 00000069  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
(although he has been arrested before). 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Embassy cannot corroborate the claims of torture 
in the ACPRA letter.  However, while the Saudi government has 
made attempts to curb and control torture in Saudi prisons, 
occasional claims of torture, such as this one, persist. 
ACPRA's rare open letter was notable for bringing public 
attention to a matter most Saudis prefer to ignore.  That it 
has thus far been tolerated suggests a willingness on the 
part of the SAG to expand - ever so slightly - the limits of 
public debate on such subjects. 
SMITH