Manama, Bahrain - Relatives and supporters of three Bahraini
detainees being held in Saudi Arabia on terrorism charges gathered in
front of the UN House in Manama on Saturday to demand their immediate
release.
The three include Abdulraheem al-Murbati, 47, who has spent more
than six years in Saudi jails and former Guantanamo Bay detainee
Abdulla Majid al-Nuaimi, 27, who was arrested recently as he
attempted to enter Saudi Arabia.
The protesters criticized the incarceration of the three and the
Bahraini government's silence toward the arrests of its citizens.
'We will address the UN High Commission for Human Rights in a
letter this week to demand their intervention after the Saudi and
Bahraini governments failed to react in accordance with the rights of
the detainees,' Mohammed Janahi, head of the civil liberties
committee of the National Justice Movement (NJM), told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa during the protest.
'These arrests are in violation of Islamic values and
international laws because the detainees are being held under bad
conditions without being charged or presented to trial.'
Janahi said the protesters believe that Bahraini authorities
coordinated with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on the
arrests.
The Bahraini and Saudi governments have not commented on the
recent arrests. In the past Bahraini officials had said they follow
the cases of Bahrainis detained in Saudi Arabia via their embassy in
Riyadh.
Al-Nuaimi, who was one of six Bahrainis being held in Guantanamo
Bay, was freed in November 2005. No charges were ever filed against
him by US or Bahraini authorities.
He had started his own small business and was in the process of
finishing his master's degree when he was arrested by the Saudi
authorities while en route to buy goods for his electrical goods
shop.
Al-Murbati was arrested in April 2003 shortly after his brother
Essa al-Murbati was arrested. Essa was then sent to Guantanamo. He is
the longest serving of the three Bahrainis being held in Saudi
prisons.
The Saudi authorities have also been holding Khalil Janahi for
more then a year and half now.
Relatives of al-Murabati and Janahi said during the protest that
they were not informed when either will be presented to stand trial.
Family members reaffirmed the men's innocence.
'They should either clarify the charges and this misery for the
families or they could just round us all up and put us in jail so we
can be a family again because these arrests have been as harsh on the
relatives as it has been on the detainees,' said Murbati's 20-year-
old son, Osama.
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