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Lebanese man dissapeared in Saudi Arabia
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On 4 August 2021, Ali Maziad, a Lebanese national residing in Saudi Arabia, was abducted from his house in the capital, Riyadh by a group of men in civilian clothes. The Lebanese Embassy informed his family three months after his disappearance that he is being detained by State Security. Since then, he has been forcibly disappeared and his family has no information about his fate and whereabouts. Amnesty International urges the Saudi Arabian authorities to immediately disclose the fate and whereabouts of Ali Maziad, release him and ensure he has access to medical treatment and legal representation.
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Release cleared men from Guantánamo
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Out of the 36 men who remain at the US military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 19 are cleared for release yet remain imprisoned today. The prison has been open for more than 20 years and over 700 Muslim men and boys have passed through its doors. Many were tortured, all of them detained arbitrarily, and none have faced a fair trial. One of these individuals is Toffiq al-Bihani, who was cleared for transfer out of the facility in 2010 but remains there today. The US government must transfer out Toffiq and the other cleared men and close the facility immediately.
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Board urges clemency as execution looms
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James Coddington, aged 50, is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma on 25 August 2022. He was sentenced to death for the murder of a 73-year-old friend in 1997. Following a clemency hearing on 3 August 2022, the state Pardon and Parole Board recommended that Governor Stitt grant James Coddington’s request to commute his death sentence. Twenty-four years old at the time of the crime, James Coddington is said to have long been remorseful for his actions and to have broken the cycle of drug dependence that was the context in which the murder occurred and with which he had struggled during and after a childhood of deprivation, abuse and exposure to drugs from an early age.
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Release activist jailed for 34 years for tweets
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On 9 August, the Specialized Criminal Court in the Saudi capital, Riyadh sentenced, after a grossly unfair trial, Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi activist and academic from Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a minority to 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban. She was accused, among other things, to «disturbing public order» for using Twitter and retweeting activists who support women's rights. According to court documents reviewed by Amnesty International, she was detained in solitary confinement for 285 days before she was brought to trial. She was also denied access to legal representation throughout her pre-trial detention, including during interrogations. The Saudi authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Salma al-Shehab and quash her conviction.
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Crimean human rights lawyers disbarred
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On 15 July, lawyers Lilya Gemedzhi, Rustem Kyamilev and Nazim Sheikhmambetov were disbarred in retaliation for their human rights work, defending Crimean Tatar activists against politically motivated charges in Russian-occupied Crimea. Unless this decision is reversed, they will not be able to represent clients in criminal proceedings and in court, nor take new qualification exams for a year. This sends a warning to other lawyers in Crimea, at the time when politically motivated reprisals against activists are on the rise.
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Intensified assault on Iran's Baha’i minority
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Iran’s persecuted Baha’i minority are suffering escalated attacks on their human rights. Since 31 July 2022, the authorities have raided dozens of Baha’i houses, detained at least 30 people, and subjected many more to interrogations, electronic ankle bracelets and threats of imprisonment in relation to their Baha’i faith. They have also ramped up confiscation and demolition of Baha’i properties.
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