Rights organization calls for release of 10 Nubian Egyptian nationals detained without trial in Saudi Arabia

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights on Saturday called for the release of 10 Nubian Egyptian nationals who have been detained in Saudi Arabia since their arrest last July in relation to a community event they held in 2019. 

All 10 of the detainees are former or current community leaders among the Nubian diaspora in Riyadh, including the head of the Thomas Nubian Village Association in Riyadh and six senior figures and members of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh, a community group that encourages members to share and engage with Nubian history and culture.

The detainees were first arrested on October 25, 2019, by Saudi security forces in relation to an event in Riyadh arranged by the Dahmit association to celebrate the anniversary of the 1973 October War, and questioned about “neglecting to include a picture of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi,” according to a statement issued by the GCHR on Saturday. The group stated that the detainees attempted to explain that decorative banners at the event were not intended to be political, and depicted only Nubian Egyptians who had participated in the war, with Field Marshal Ahmed Hussein Tantawy the most senior among them.

In a move that the GCHR described as “supporting the Saudi authorities,” the Egyptian Consulate in Riyadh published a statement on October 29, citing Saudi law to affirm that it is forbidden in Saudi Arabia for non-Saudi nationals to “establish groups or bodies” and calling on residents to disband any such groups that might exist. 

The 10 men were detained for two months in 2019, according to the GCHR, before being released pending investigation and banned from travel. They were re-arrested in July the following year. Three months ago, all 10 were transferred from detention facilities in Riyadh to Asir Prison in Abha, the GCHR added, citing “informed sources.”  

One of the detainee’s relatives told Mada Masr that none of them have attended court sessions or have been questioned since July 2020. They have also not been allowed visitors and are permitted only to make calls to their families once every two weeks.

Members of the Nubian diaspora attempted to retain a lawyer to represent the detainees, the relative said, but were told they were not allowed to do so since it is “a security case.” Meanwhile, the relative said that the detainees’ families have attempted to contact both the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Egyptian Consulate in Riyadh without success. 

In the statement, the GCHR calls on the Saudi authorities to “protect the existence of minorities, their national or ethnic identity, and their cultural, religious and linguistic identity,” and to allow them to carry out “peaceful activities without any harassment or arbitrary measures,” including the “rights to freedom of assembly and association.”