URGENT ACTION

FLOGGING OF ELDERLY WOMAN MAY BE IMMINENT

According to a report in the al-Riyadh newspaper, the Saudi Arabian Minister of Interior has ordered that sentences of flogging and imprisonment imposed on a 75-year-old Syrian woman and two Saudi Arabian men be carried out. Flogging violates the absolute prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment; the three will be prisoners of conscience if they are imprisoned.

Seventy-five-year-old Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, and two younger Saudi Arabian men known only as Fahad, aged 24, and Hadyan are likely to be imprisoned imminently if the Minister of the Interior does not retract the order. The flogging sentences may be carried out soon after they are taken into custody.

Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi and Fahad were sentenced to 40 lashes and four months’ imprisonment, and Hadyan to 60 lashes and six months’ imprisonment, at a trial in al-Shamli, north of the capital Riyadh, in March 2009. Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi was also sentenced to be returned to her native country Syria on completion of her prison term. They were found guilty of khilwa(being in the company of members of the opposite sex who are not close relatives). Their appeal was rejected by a court in Riyadh. They attempted to lodge an appeal before Saudi Arabia’s new Supreme Court, but this was rejected. If they are detained, they would be prisoners of conscience as Amnesty International considers imprisonment on grounds of khilwato be a violation of their internationally recognized rights to freedom of expression and to privacy.

The three were arrested in April 2008 by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (also known as the Mutawa’een or religious police). At their trial, Fahad and Hadyan stated that they were delivering bread to Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi. Fahad argued that the offence of khilwadid not apply as he was related to Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, who breastfed him when he was a child. The court rejected this argument.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Arabic, English or your own language:

- Urging the authorities, particularly the Minister of Interior, to prevent the imprisonment and flogging of Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, Fahad and Hadyan;

- Noting that, if the three are imprisoned, Amnesty International would consider them to be prisoners of conscience and call for their immediate and unconditional release;

- Calling on the authorities not to flog the three, as flogging is in violation of Saudi Arabia’s obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Saudi Arabia is a state party.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 25 JANUARY 2010 TO: