Saudi guarantees on detained activists ‘not good enough’ – HRW

DUBAI: Human Rights Watch yesterday urged Saudi Arabia to allow independent observers access to detained women’s rights activists, saying Riyadh’s assurances of their well- being could not be trusted following the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The kingdom last month denied as ‘ false’ and ‘unfounded’ reports published by HRW and Amnesty International that three women activists had been tortured and sexually harassed in detention.

“Saudi Arabia’s consistent lies about senior officials’ role in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder mean that the government’s denials that it tortured these women activists are not nearly good enough,” said HRW’s deputy Middle East director, Michael Page.

Khashoggi, a dissident columnist who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States, was killed inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in early October.

His murder has put mounting pressure on Riyadh and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Salman, who Turkish officials – and reportedly the CIA – have concluded gave the orders.

The New York-based watchdog said it received a new report on November 28 from an ‘informed source’ indicating that Saudi authorities had tortured and sexually harassed a fourth woman activist.

Sources told HRW the torture of Saudi women activists ‘may be ongoing’. — AFP