Annual Report: Saudi Arabia 2010  May 28, 2010  Annual Report:
Saudi Arabia 2010  View More Research  Hundreds of people were
detained on security grounds in 2009, adding to the thousands
arrested in previous years; all were held in virtual secrecy.
Many were suspected supporters of Islamist groups. Typically,
such detainees are held without charge or trial for months or
years for investigation and interrogation, and without any means
of challenging their detention. Most are held without access to
lawyers and some are not permitted to see or communicate with
their families for months or years. They are held in prisons
where torture and other illtreatment are rife and used to obtain
self-incriminating "confessions". If charged, they face grossly
unfair trials, conducted in secret and without defence lawyers
and in which defendants are questioned briefly by a three-man
panel about their "confessions". Sentences range from death to
flogging and terms of imprisonment. Some of those imprisoned are
held beyond the