What have Saudi authorities done to Dr Mohammad al-Qahtani?

Here is a picture of the three Saudi Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award foundation. Dr Abdullah al-Hamid, to the left, died in prison some years ago - according to his cellmates because he was not given proper medical care in time. The lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair, in the middle, was sentenced to 15 years after an unjust trial and still has many years to serve. Dr Mohammad al-Qahtani, to the right, should have been released on November 22 but has has not been heard from since October 24. Before that he used to call his family in the U.S. from his Saudi prison every day.

Since his disappearance inside the prison, the Saudi authorities don’t answer the family’s questions about his health and whereabouts.

This case is so abhorrent. If no light is shed, the silence surrounding him easily makes one think about the way the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated inside his own consulate in Istanbul.

I happen to be one of the few Swedes who have met both Dr Qahtani and Waleed Abu al-Khair in Saudi Arabia – two highly respectable peaceful reformists – and I will continue asking questions. Let’s hope that governments will do the same. Here’s a link to the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. Link to a column I wrote about his case here.