Freedom soon Detained Bahrainis likely to return before Ramadhan Sandeep Singh Grewal Staff Reporter The files of two Bahrainis detained in Saudi Arabia for alleged terror-linked activities are likely to be closed by the month-end. The Saudi Human Rights Commission has assured the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society that Abdulrahim Al Murbati and Khalil Janahi would be released before Ramadhan. It was the same commission which had first announced that the eight Bahraini teachers detained in Riyadh earlier this year would be released. The group has returned home. “This is certainly good news for us and the two families that their loved ones would be released before the holy month starts,” society regional and international director Faisal Fulad told the Tribune yesterday. “Commission chief Turki Sudairi told me that their files would be closed soon.” Al Murbati was apprehended by the Saudi Arabia in 2003 on terror charges which, however, have not be pressed yet. He is the elder brother of Isa Al Murbati, the last Bahraini detainee to return from the Guantanamo Bay. Janahi was arrested on April 27 last as one of the 172 suspected Al Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia. He and his father hold UAE passports while his brother, sister and wife are Bahrainis. Fulad said both men had been in detention without fair trial or lawyers. “I am trying to arrange a meeting with them. The Saudi authorities have shifted Al Murbati to Al Aseer while Janahi continues to be at Al Hair prison in Riyadh.” He said they would meet commission members again to follow up on the case. Earlier, the National Justice Movement (NJM) vowed to take up the cases of all Bahrainis detained for alleged terror-linked activities. Movement chief Abdulla Hashim had said they were also following the cases of Al Murbati and Janahi. “We will use all legal channels to secure their release and are working with their families. Several Bahrainis are under the scanner of the state security,” he said. http://www.bahraintribune.com/ArticleDetail.asp

Saudis urged to free Bahrainis

By RASHA AL QAHTANI SAUDI human rights groups are being urged to step up pressure on their government to secure the release of two jailed Bahrainis. Abdulraheem Al Murbati was among a group of men arrested in Riyadh in June 2003 on suspicion of being members of Al Qaeda. Khalil Janahi was arrested in April last year for the same reason, but it is understood neither man has been charged. The Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) has now established contact with the Saudi Human Rights Commission and hopes to secure the men's release before Ramadan starts next month. "I have met the commission president Shaikh Turki bin Khalid Al Sadiri and requested they intervene to speed up the release of the men," said BHRWS regional and international director Faisal Fulad. "Their families and the Bahraini citizens are looking forward to seeing them come back to Bahrain." Mr Fulad said Shaikh Turki had promised to forward the request to Saudi authorities. Mr Janahi's wife, Ghada Al Shaikh, told the GDN that his family had been suffering ever since his arrest. "No one has stepped forward and helped us," she said. "I call upon His Majesty King Hamad to intervene and release him. "The Saudi authorities have nothing against him and my husband is wasting his life behind bars when he should be out there accomplishing his dreams and goals." Ms Al Shaikh said that her husband was in Saudi Arabia for Islamic studies with religious scholars in Al Qaseem, but would travel back to Bahrain during the holidays to visit family. "He was arrested at the airport in Riyadh when he was on his way back to Bahrain and we did not know about his arrest until the next day," she said. "For four months he was interrogated and kept chained up in solitary confinement." She said he was later removed from solitary confinement, but is now demanding his unconditional release. "If he is convicted of anything the Saudi authorities should bring him back to his country to serve his sentence," she added. Mr Janahi is being held at Al Haer Prison, while Mr Murbati has recently been transferred to Assir Prison. The latter's family temporarily lost track of him in the Saudi prison system after he was transferred to his current cell in the southwest province Assir. His mother died two months ago without fulfilling her dying wish - to see him for the first time in five years. National Detainees Committee president and Al Menbar MP Mohammed Khalid Mohammed is spearheading the family's case in parliament after they complained that Mr Al Murbati was being mistreated. His family is hoping he will be released soon after eight Bahrainis, arrested during a daytrip to Saudi Arabia in February, were finally released last month. Mr Al Murbati's brother Isa was one of six Bahrainis who spent years incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, but all have since been released. His wife is undergoing physiotherapy to help restore some of the movement she lost as a result of a stroke. rasha@gdn.com.bh http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=225620&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31140