Rights groups denounce Saudi trial of ten Egyptian Nubians

Six Egyptian human rights groups have called on Saudi authorities to stop the trial of ten Egyptian Nubians before the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court.

On Wednesday, 10 November, 2021, the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court decided to postpone for two months the trial of ten Egyptian Nubians who have been detained by the Saudi authorities for nearly two years.

According to the rights groups, the facts of the case date back to 25 October, 2019, when a group of Nubian organisations in Saudi Arabia decided to commemorate the Nubian warriors of the October War of 1973. During the interrogations, the Saudi authorities asked them why their posters did not include pictures of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Instead, their photos had Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who was of Nubian origin, and other heroes from the Nuba region.

In a joint statement published yesterday, the rights groups stressed that defendants’ trial lacked minimum fair trial guarantees, adding that they had never been able to appoint a lawyer, starting from the moment of their arrest and throughout their trial.

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The defendants were accused by the Saudi court of charges related to terrorism and the organization of an unauthorised gathering.

The human rights NGOs condemned the response of the Egyptian Consulate in Saudi Arabia, which issued a statement indirectly declining its responsibility for the ten Egyptian citizens. The groups called on the Egyptian authorities to intervene immediately for the unconditional release of the Egyptian detainees.

The statement was signed by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Committee for Justice, Egyptian Front for Human Rights, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, El Nadeem Center and Freedom Initiative.