The Saudi authorities intend to start holding trials for many Palestinians who have been in detention with no guilt since last year.
According to Quds Press about 40 Palestinians will be brought on Sunday before the first Saudi criminal court.
The Saudi authorities have not informed the detainees about the charges to be filed against them while their families are still seeking to have lawyers to defend their relatives.
The Saudi security authorities launched last year two arrest campaigns targeting over 60 Palestinians and released a few number of them later. Most of them were reportedly exposed to maltreatment and torture.
The security authorities accuse those Palestinians of being involved in activities in support of their national cause or showing sympathy with Palestine. However they are in jails with no trials or indictments.
Among the detainees is Hamas official Mohamed al-Khudari 81 and his son Hani 49. They were arrested on April 4 2019.
Khudari has been living officially in Saudi Arabia for over 30 years and represented the Hamas Movement between mid-1990s and 2003 in the country.
In September 2019 the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a statement that “it could not give an exact number of the Palestinian detainees but it has names of about 60 people while estimates within the Palestinian community in Saudi Arabia says that the number far exceeds this.”
The Euro-Med Monitor however was able to document testimonies from 11 Palestinian families whose relatives have been arrested or forcibly disappeared in 2019 during their stay or visit to Saudi Arabia including students residents academics and businessmen.
“Those people were isolated from the outside world without any specific indictments against them. They were not brought before the public prosecution nor allowed to communicate with their relatives or communicate with their lawyers” Euro-Med said at the time.
