8 May 2009

JEDDAH: Police arrested a Saudi journalist last week for criticizing, in an online forum, municipal services in Hafr Al-Batin, a city in northeastern Saudi Arabia.

Adel Al-Rabeea was detained on April 27 and released early this week following what he claims were verbal orders issued by the region’s undersecretary. “I don’t know the reason behind my arrest. I work for the government and I know the rules. My arrest was illegal,” said Al-Rabeea.

However Al-Rabeea said police were cooperative. “They know that I am an honest man ... they told me that the undersecretary of Hafr Al-Batin had issued a verbal order for my arrest. It is against the law. I said the truth and I was trying to make my voice reach higher authorities,” he added.

Al-Rabeea said he has been criticizing the municipality for over four years and has argued many times with top officials in the city. “We have inequity in some departments. I have been trying for four years to make my voice reach higher authorities,” he added.

Al-Rabeea posted a comment on an online forum two months ago, calling on the authorities to take tougher action against an Egyptian employee at a furnished apartment building. The man was arrested for taking photographs of a woman having a shower in her apartment. The woman reported the matter to her husband who informed the police.

Al-Rabeea said the man was arrested, handed 50 lashes and able to resume work, even though, according to Saudi law, he should be deported for violating Article 18 of the Kingdom’s visa and passport law.

Some local newspapers quoted the governorate’s undersecretary as saying that Al-Rabeea was detained on April 29. A police report, however, says he was detained on April 27.

“I asked the police why they arrested me; they said this is a matter for the Prosecution and Investigation Commission,” Al-Rabeea said, adding that the police told him they received an order to arrest him from a higher authority in the governorate.

He said that he went on hunger strike while in prison. “I will not give up on my rights. I still want higher authorities to hear about the lack of services in the city and the injustices,” he said.

Mekhlef Al-Shammary of the Human Rights Commission said Al-Rabeea was released after another person guaranteed that he would appear in court and cooperate in investigations. “I contacted the provincial undersecretary before I sent a letter about the case to the Investigation and Prosecution Commission but he did not respond,” said Al-Shammary.

“I also know that they have manipulated the fact that he was taken by police on April 27 whereas they said he was taken on April 29,” he added.

Al-Shammary told Arab News that Al-Rabeea had some personal disagreements with municipality officials. “He was arrested because he expressed his opinions freely,” he added.

Al-Shammary said what Al-Rabeea did falls under electronic crimes and that he should not be arrested. “There was no legal document or complaint against Al-Rabeea, only a phone call,” he added.