CAIRO — Saudi Arabia is holding more than 3,000 people in secret detention and has used torture to extract confessions in its anti- terrorism crackdown since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., Amnesty International said in a report to be released today.
The report criticized the international community for turning a blind eye to the kingdom’s methods in its crackdown. Saudi Arabia has carried out a heavy wave of arrests against al-Qaeda members in past years after the militant group carried out a string of attacks against expatriate residential compounds, oil facilities and government buildings.
“These unjust anti-terrorism measures have made an already dire human rights situation worse,” Malcolm Smart, head of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program, said in a news release.
Asked about the report, a Saudi Interior Ministry official, Abdulrahman Alhadlaq, said: “These are claims that have to be proven. . . . Our policies on human rights are very clear and the orders given are for prisoners to be treated with respect and according to international human rights principles.”
