URGENT ACTION

ELDERLY WOMAN AND TWO MEN FACE FLOGGING

Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, a 75-year-old Syrian woman, along with two younger Saudi Arabian men known only as Fahad, aged 24, and Hadyan, have had their sentences of flogging and imprisonment reimposed and confirmed on appeal after the Court of Cassation in Saudi Arabia sent the case back for retrial to the lower court which first heard it. If the recently established Supreme Court upholds their sentences, they will be imprisoned and at imminent risk of flogging.

On 25 August a court in al-Shamli, north of the capital Riyadh, reimposed sentences it had originally handed down on 3 March 2009 against Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, Fahad and Hadyan; Khamisa and Fahad were again sentenced to 40 lashes and four months’ imprisonment, and Hadyan to 60 lashes and six months’ imprisonment. Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi was also sentenced to be returned to her native country Syria on completion of her prison term. They had all been found guilty of khilwa(being in the company of members of the opposite sex who are not close relatives). An appeal court in Riyadh has since confirmed this decision, which, according to their lawyer, is now before the Supreme Court for a final review. If they are detained following the Supreme Court’s decision, 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.

Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, Fahad and Hadyan were arrested on 21 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 first trial, Fahad and Hadyan stated in their defence that they were delivering bread to Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi. Fahad argued that the offence of khilwadid not apply on the basis that he was related to Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, who breastfed him when he was a child. The court, however, rejected this argument.

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

- Urging the authorities to drop the charge of khilwa against Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, Fahad and Hadyan as it violates their rights to freedom of expression and to privacy;

- Noting that, if the three are imprisoned following the Supreme Court’s review, 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 24 DECEMBER 2009 TO: