News / Saudi Arabia / Persian Gulf

Amnesty International calls on Saudi Arabia to reveal fate of Qatari citizen, his son

Wednesday, 04 September 2019 12:45 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 04 September 2019 12:59 PM ]

This file picture shows a general shot of Dammam, the capital city of Saudi Arabia’s Shia-populated Eastern Province, where Qatari citizen Ali Nasser Ali Jarallah and his 17-year-old son Abdulhadi were heading to.

Amnesty International has called upon Saudi authorities to immediately reveal the whereabouts of Qatari citizen Ali Nasser Ali Jarallah and his 17-year-old son Abdulhadi, who entered the kingdom last month on family visas to visit relatives, but may have been forcibly disappeared.

The London-based rights group said in a statement that the 70-year-old man and his teenage son arrived in Saudi Arabia on August 15, and were on their way to visit Ali Jarallah’s brother in the country’s Shia-populated Eastern Province.

The two men were in contact with their family in Qatar until August 18, when they were nearing the city of al-Hofuf in the Eastern Province.

Since then, all communication was lost and they disappeared.

Amnesty International noted that Ali Jarallah is diabetic and suffers from heart and kidney problems as well as high blood pressure. He is on regular medication and must attend his regular doctor’s appointments in Doha.

A father and his son disappeared in #Saudi and lost all contact with their families upon entering the country from #Qatar. Given Saudi's appalling human rights record we fear for the safety of the men! We call on @KingSalman to reveal their whereabouts! https://t.co/spYhkQaJcD pic.twitter.com/1vMfdaYiyW
— Amnesty Gulf (@amnestygulf) September 3, 2019

The rights group sent a letter to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to disclose their fate.

“We call on disclosing the reason for their arrest and to release them promptly unless they are charged with a recognizably criminal offense in accordance with the principles of due process recognized in international law, with the need to get Nasser Jarallah all the medical services required by his health,” it said in a statement.

Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), meanwhile, stated that it “holds Saudi Arabia fully responsible for the life and safety of the Qatari citizens and calls upon the Saudi authorities to disclose their fate and release them immediately.”

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The NHRC then expressed concerns about the apparent enforced disappearance, especially as the Saudi authorities recently adopted a policy of forcible disappearance of a number of Qatari citizens due to the ongoing Saudi-led diplomatic and trade boycott against Qatar.

The rights committee also called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Panel on Enforced Disappearances and the UN Human Rights Council to intervene immediately to stop these grave and systematic violations against Qatari citizens.

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Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, 2017, after officially accusing it of “sponsoring terrorism.”

On June 9, 2017, Qatar strongly dismissed allegations of supporting terrorism after the Saudi regime and its allies blacklisted dozens of individuals and entities purportedly associated with Doha.

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Bahrain Saudi Arabia Egypt Middle East Persian Gulf Amnesty International Qatar United Arab Emirates Shia Muslims Eastern Province arrest warrant diplomatic row