MOI’s targeting Al-bjadi after he uncovered the torture and death of a Yamani prisoner named Sultan Mohammad Abdu Alda’ees is very well known. Al-da’ees was tortured at AL-Tarfiah political prison in Al-Qassim in December 2010. Albjadi communicated with the deceased’s family and some UN agencies to arrange for his family to receive his body and examine it to precisely determine the cause of death. Al-bjadi also communicated with independent media sources to reveal the case. Since then, he has faced more harassment and surveillance by the general directorate of investigation, who have been wanting to arrest him without causing public opinion to stair or to draw more attention to Alda’ees’s case. They had their chance when the families of prisoners announced organizing a protest at the MOI on the 20th of March, in which Al-bjadi participated and wrote about what took place at the protest on his twitter account.
People who arrested that day said they heard police issuing commands of arresting Al-bjadi, but he was not identified by them on that day. But he was arrested the following day,after his return to his family in Al-Qassim in an inhuman illegal manner. His car was hit several times forcing him to stop, and then they arrested him on the streets, violating of his rights. He was first taken to his office, which was inspected, then he was moved to Al-Hayer political prison in Riyadh.
After keeping al-bjadi in solidarity confinement for four months and denying him an attorney, He was secretly moved to the Specialized Penal Court of MOI. Al-bjadi’s lawyers attended the second session of his trail after he contacted his family. However, they were denied entrance, and a person claiming to be a spokesperson of Abdullatif Al-Abdullatif, The main judge of the trail, said that AL-bjadi does not wish for a legal representative since he wants to personally defend himself, and that he has waived his right to a lawyer. Later on, it was known, after a phone call with Al-bjadi, that what was said by the spokesperson were false, and that he-Al-bjadi- has insisted on having an attorney. After many sessions following the same pattern, Al-bjadi refused to acknowledge MOI’s trails unless he was granted his legal rights. The trail was then postponed for few months. Al-bjadi went on his hunger strike protest. He was taken to trail on Tuesday 10th of April 2012, where judge Abdullatif Al-Abdullatif has sentenced Al-bjadi- on April 10, 2012, to 4 years of imprisonment and an additional 5 years of travel ban for the following charges:
MOI tried tarnishing Al-bjadi’s reputation by releasing a statement on the 12th of October 2012, in the wake of rallies and protests organized by the families of prisoners denouncing MOI’s violations of prisoners’ rights. The statements had the following segment: “3. Prisoner Mohammad Saleh Al-bjadi, is serving his sentence of 4 years,after he was found guilty for communicating with foreign parties to organize actions that may violate national security, and other charges.”
MOI is also accused of maltreatment of Al-bjadi in prison, due to which, he has engaged in a hunger strike protest for the first time on the 21st of March 2012. Al-bjadi went on strike for the second time on the 28th of July in protest for maltreatment and confiscation of his possessions. Then he went on strike for the third time on the 19th of September until now.
Al-Bjadi’s solidarity campaign holds the MOI full responsibility for Al-bjadi’s physical and psychological safety, and calls upon the Saudi government to respect and implement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mohammad Al-bjadi is a political prisoner, who have been imprisoned due to his peaceful activities of expressing his opinions through peaceful protests and rallies and by establishing and engaging in civil rights associations. We also demand the immediate and unconditional release of Mohammad Al-bjadi,and compensate him for whatever he was subjected to in
free Albjadi 