Al-Ha'ir Prison, ( ar, سجن الحاير also known as al-Hayer al-Hayar or al-Haer), is a Saudi Arabian political, maximum-security,

Mabahith The Saudi Mabahith ( ar, المباحث العامة, , General Investigation Directorate), also spelled ''Mabaheth'', is the secret police agency of the Presidency of State Security in Saudi Arabia, and deals with domestic security and counter- ...

-affiliated prison located approximately 25 miles south of

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...

. It is the largest prison complex in Saudi Arabia and houses both men and women. Facilities include isolation cells, and physical torture rooms. Reportedly, a number of members of al-Qaeda are held there. There is also confirmation of unfavored royal family members being held there which include princess and princes, journalists, business rivals, political rivals, international prisoners or any alleged dissidents or persons deemed worthy of needing be silenced, made an example of, and destroyed psychologically and physically. Many people have been held without charge, have no current, pending, or even past court dates, nor future release date. Past prisoners report being subject to constant psychological, environmental, physical, social and sexual torture. Many noted persons are confirmed to be held there under these conditions and many other individuals suspected to be there, as the Saudi government limits communication for captives and refuse to provide information concerning certain detainees as a policy.

Prison conditions

According to historycollection.co, "In September 2003 the prison was ravaged by a fire which killed 67 inmates and injured more than 20 others held in the prison, as well as three security guards." In 2015, journalist Kevin Sullivan of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' visited al-Ha'ir prison, including one cell that looked "spartan but clean", in which an inmate described the conditions as "good". Sullivan's host described the prison as illustrating the "government’s strategy of showering inmates with perks rather than locking them down in harsh, Guantanamo Bay-style conditions". Gary Hill of the International Corrections and Prisons Association spent over two decades visiting Saudi Arabia advising on prison warden training and stated to Sullivan that he expected prisoners in Saudi Arabian prisons "to be treated nicely — that's their religion". , Hill had never visited any Saudi prison. Sullivan also interviewed

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

spokesman Mansour al-Turki, who stated that the recidivism rate for terrorist incidents by ex-detainees was twenty percent, and Sevag Kechichian of Amnesty International, who stated that "allegations of mistreatment and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

of prisoners in Saudi prisons are widespread" and that "torture can still happen even in nice-looking prisons — when no one is looking".

Notable inmates

* William Sampson, a British-Canadian man tortured and kept in solitary confinement for 31 months, and

Sandy Mitchell Sandy Mitchell may refer to: * Sandy Mitchell (prisoner) * Sandy Mitchell (novelist) * Sandy Mitchell (racing driver) Sandy Mitchell (born 7 March 2000) is a British racing driver who currently competes in the British GT Championship and GT Wo ...

, one of Sampson's co-accused, were detained from 2001 to 2003. * Mohammad Al-Harbi, a Saudi high-school teacher who was accused of mocking religion and sentenced to three years' imprisonment and 750 lashes. * Hani al-Sayegh, a Saudi controversially accused of complicity in the

Khobar towers bombing The Khobar Towers bombing was a terrorist attack on part of a housing complex in the city of Khobar, Saudi Arabia, near the national oil company (Saudi Aramco) headquarters of Dhahran and nearby King Abdulaziz Air Base on 25 June 1996. At that tim ...

, was detained starting from 2000. * Prince

Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud ( ar, الوليد بن طلال آل سعود; born 7 March 1955) is a Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman, investor, philanthropist and royal. He was listed on ''Time'' magazine's Time 100, an annual list of the hu ...

, a billionaire Saudi investor who was detained during the 2017 Saudi Arabian purge and initially held at The Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh. * Eleven princes of the House of Saud were detained at al-Ha'ir on 6 January 2018, after they publicly protested in opposition to a new government policy requiring royal family members to pay their own electricity and water bills and with a request for monetary compensation for a death sentence against one of their cousins. * Loujain al-Hathloul released from jail 10 February 2021. * Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a 56-year-old Saudi royal family member was detained in March 2019 without any charges, as per her claims.

Lawsuit

In October 2004, former detainees William Sampson, Sandy Mitchell and Les Walker, part of a group of nine foreign nationals convicted of bombing,

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

(and subsequently released on royal pardon) were given permission by the

Court of Appeal of England and Wales The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales, and second in the legal system of England and Wales only to ...

to sue for redress for wrongful conviction and torture. Named in the suit were: * Prince Naif, Minister of Interior * Mohammed Said, governor of al-Ha'ir Prison * Ibrahim al-Dali, officer of the

(the Saudi Arabian general intelligence service) * Khaled al-Saleh, officer of the Mabahith In 2006 this judgement was overturned by the

Law Lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

, and the plaintiffs appealed to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

References

{{Reflist, 2, refs= {{cite web, title=Saudi Arabia: Dispensing a Peaceful Demonstration after Assaulting Prisoner's Wife and Four of Her Children due to A video Segment , publisher= ANHRI , date=28 August 2012 , url=http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=9263 , access-date=2012-08-31 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902102232/http://www.anhri.net/en/?p=9263 , archive-date=2012-09-02 , url-status=live Amnesty International
Hani al-Sayegh, deported, detained, denied basic rights
April 23, 2000 {{cite news , last1=Sullivan , first1=Kevin , title=A rare look inside a Saudi prison that showers terrorists with perks , date=2015-03-01 , work=

, url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/a-rare-look-inside-a-saudi-prison-that-showers-terrorists-with-perks/2015/03/01/2da9dfb4-a64e-11e4-a162-121d06ca77f1_story.html , access-date=2018-01-07 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107061630/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/a-rare-look-inside-a-saudi-prison-that-showers-terrorists-with-perks/2015/03/01/2da9dfb4-a64e-11e4-a162-121d06ca77f1_story.html , archive-date=2018-01-07 , url-status=live {{cite news, title=UPDATE 1-Eleven Saudi princes detained following protest over utility bills, date=2018-01-06, publisher=

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

, url=https://in.reuters.com/article/saudi-reforms-arrests/update-1-eleven-saudi-princes-detained-following-protest-over-utility-bills-idINL8N1P10E0, access-date=2018-01-07, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107175024/https://in.reuters.com/article/saudi-reforms-arrests/update-1-eleven-saudi-princes-detained-following-protest-over-utility-bills-idINL8N1P10E0, archive-date=2018-01-07, url-status=live {{cite news , title=Saudi Arabia transfers Ritz-Carlton detainees to Al-Ha'ir prison , date=2018-01-09 , publisher=

Middle East Monitor The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, but writes about other issues in the Middle East as wel ...

, url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180109-saudi-arabia-transfers-ritz-carlton-detainees-to-al-hair-prison/ , accessdate=2018-01-12

External links

CBC News: Inside a Saudi Prison

* "Jailing Jihadis: Saudi Arabia’s Special Terrorist Prisons" a
Global Terrorism Analysis
Prisons in Saudi Arabia

Prison conditions

Notable inmates

Lawsuit

See also

References

External links