Rabat – Two dozen rights groups have criticised Morocco over its decision to extradite a Saudi activist’s brother back to the Gulf kingdom, saying he faced “serious human rights abuses” there.
A Moroccan court earlier this month ruled in favour of the extradition of Hassan al-Rabie, a member of a family of activists from the country’s Shiite minority, after he was detained in the North African kingdom.
Rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said Rabie was extradited from Morocco on February 6. This has yet to be confirmed by the two countries.
“We believe that Hassan’s detention and extradition are part of the Saudi authorities’ reprisals” against the family, the 24 rights groups said on Monday, adding he was “likely to face serious human rights abuses” in Saudi Arabia.
ALSO READ | Morocco sentences for migrants over Melilla tragedy ‘unjust’, says rights group
In an open letter to Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, the groups said the Rabie family had “long been persecuted by the Saudi authorities”.
In Saudi Arabia, “he faces credible risks of persecution and other serious harm, including a risk of torture, for reasons related to his religious beliefs and his family’s history of political protests,” they wrote.
They added that the Moroccan court issued its ruling “following a single hearing that appears not to have allowed (Rabie) reasonable time to present his case for protection”.
The Rabie family hails from eastern Saudi Arabia, home to a large Shiite community that complains of systematic discrimination by the kingdom’s Sunni-dominated authorities.
ALSO READ | Rights group slams Morocco, Spain over migrant deaths
Rabie, 26, was arrested at Saudi Arabia’s request on January 14 as he tried to leave Morocco for Turkey, according to his brother Ahmed, who said Riyadh was trying to exert pressure in order to find a third brother, activist Munir.
The kingdom sentenced their older brother Ali to death in November, allegedly for helping Munir escape Saudi Arabia, according to MENA Rights Group, a Geneva-based legal advocacy organisation.
Rare demonstrations took place in eastern Saudi Arabia in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, followed by violent clashes between protesters and security forces there in 2017.
In March last year, the kingdom executed 81 people in single day, many of them from the Shiite minority — including two of Rabie’s cousins, according to MENA Rights Group.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@sebusher
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
