SHAFAQNA- Saudi authorities kidnapped a Saudi lawyer and an activist from their residence in the Switzerland city of Geneva.
The Prisoners of Conscience, an independent non-governmental organization advocating human rights in Saudi Arabia, announced in a post on its official Twitter page that attorney Dr. Hassan al-Amri and activist Hassan al-Kinani had fallen prey to state-directed and extra-territorial kidnapping, while spending time in Geneva, Switzerland, Mideastdiscourse told.
It added that Kinani was abducted by suspected Saudi agents in March 2019, and he has not been heard of ever since while Amri has been missing since October 2017. Both men had on occasions received threats for their political activism.
Al-Omari has criticised Saudi Arabia’s participation in Yemen’s civil war and has called on his government to withdraw from the conflict immediately.
The rights group said a prince had also disappeared from Geneva prior to Al-Omari with authorities in Switzerland having no information about his whereabouts , Middleeastmonitor reported.
On 15 October 2018, Saudi Prince Khalid Bin Farhan Al-Saud, who was based in Germany at the time, accused his country of trying to kidnap him. His revelation came just two weeks after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
The Saudi and Swiss authorities have not commented on the abduction reports, Alaraby mentioned.
Saudi Arabia has stepped up politically-motivated arrests, prosecution and conviction of peaceful dissident writers and human rights campaigners.
Saudi officials have also intensified crackdown in the country’s Shia-populated Eastern Province.
Over the past two years, hundreds of activists and human rights advocators have been arrested in Saudi Arabia.