Dhahban Central Prison ( ar, سجن المباحث العامة بذهبان), also known as Dhahban Prison, is a maximum security

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

facility located near

Dahaban Dahban or Dahaban ( ar, ذهبان) is an ancient village on the coast of Saudi Arabia (Red Sea). It is in Makkah Province, a few kilometers north of Jeddah. For a long time, Dahban was a fishing center until Durrat Al-Arus opened in 1996, w ...

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

, in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. It was built in 2015 as part of a renovation of the Jeddah Prisons infrastructure, at a cost of SR400 million. It has capacity for 7,500 inmates. When it opened, 3,000 inmates were transferred in from Braiman Prison. In 2015, the regional director for prisons Mani Al-Otaibi said it was the most advanced prison in Saudi Arabia, with state of the art surveillance technologies. The facility is used to hold high profile

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

s, as well as members of

Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

and the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

. It holds male and female prisoners, as well as some small children of female prisoners. It has been alleged that the female inmates have been tortured. Detained female activists were electrocuted and flogged repeatedly, according to

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, and

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

. An anonymous Saudi official denied that torture was condoned by the state. Saudi Arabia claims that inmates get "top treatment". The Badawi siblings are currently being held in this prison; with the Government of Canada demanding their release, and subsequently the Saudi Arabian Government expelled the Ambassador of Canada to Saudi Arabia and recalled the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Canada, along with diplomatic staff and Saudi Arabian students in Canada. Some of which have sought asylum as a result of this.

Allegations of torture

Several

n activists, including women have been reported to be detained in the Dhahban Prison without any charges since May 2018. The activists have been repeatedly tortured by

electrocution Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death. The term "electrocution" was coined ...

and

flogging Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

, leaving many of them unable to walk or even stand properly. According to the three testimonies obtained by

, one of the activists was forced to hang from the ceiling. Another woman was subjected to repeated sexual harassment by interrogators, who wore masks over their faces. Despite the evidence presented by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia’s media ministry has denied all such allegations. Post denial, on 28 November, another case of a fourth woman being tortured inside the prison was reported by Human Rights Watch. As per the report, Saudi authorities tortured the activist with electric shocks, tied her down to a steel bed and whipped her, while also being sexually harassed.

Notable inmates

In November 2018, prominent inmates detained in Dhahban Central Prison included: *

Waleed Abulkhair Waleed Sami Abulkhair ( ar, وليد أبوالخير) is a Saudi Arabian lawyer and human rights activist, and the head of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRSA) organization. He is the first activist to be prosecuted by the Terror ...

Raif Badawi Raif bin Muhammad Badawi ( ar, رائف بن محمد بدوي, also transcribed Raef bin Mohammed Badawi; born 13 January 1984) is a Saudi writer, dissident and activist, as well as the creator of the website ''Free Saudi Liberals''. Badawi wa ...

Samar Badawi Samar bint Muhammad Badawi ( ar, سمر بدوي; born 28 June 1981) is a Saudi Arabian human rights activist. She and her father filed court cases against each other. Badawi's father accused her of disobedience under the Saudi Arabian male gua ...

Nassima al-Sadah Nassima al-Sadah (also ''al-Sada'' or ''al-Sasa'', ar, نسيمة السادة; born 13 August 1974) is a Shia Islam in Saudi Arabia, Shia Human rights in Saudi Arabia, human rights writer and activist from the "2017–19 Qatif unrest, restive Shi ...

Loujain al-Hathloul Loujain al-Hathloul ( ar, لجين الهذلول ''Lujjayn al-Hadhlūl''; born 31 July 1989) is a Saudi women's rights activist, a social media figure, and political prisoner. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia. Al-Hathloul ...

(In

al-Ha'ir Prison Al-Ha'ir Prison, ( ar, سجن الحاير also known as al-Hayer al-Hayar or al-Haer), is a Saudi Arabian political, maximum-security, Mabahith-affiliated prison located approximately 25 miles south of Riyadh. It is the largest prison complex in ...

by February 2019Brother of Saudi women’s rights activist ‘being tortured in prison’ fears her treatment is getting worse
Maya Oppenheim, 22 February 2019,

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

) * Iman al-Nafjan *

Aziza al-Yousef Aziza al-Yousef is a Saudi Arabian women's rights activist and academic. She was detained by Saudi authorities in May 2018 along with Loujain al-Hathloul and five others. As of November, 2018, she was apparently being held in the Dhahban Centra ...

References

{{reflist, 2 Prisons in Saudi Arabia 2015 establishments in Saudi Arabia Crime in Saudi Arabia Women's rights in Saudi Arabia Human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia Torture in Saudi Arabia

Allegations of torture

Notable inmates

See also

References