Mabahith

The Mabahith al ` amah ( المباحث العامة ) ( al - al - ʿ Mabāḥiṯ Ammah ) is a secret police authority (internal intelligence ) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is engaged in internal security and counterintelligence. Is headed by the Ministry of Interior. Precise information on budget, staff, and structure are not public. The Mabahith works closely with the Special Criminal Court.

From Menchenrechtsaktivisten and organizations they will always be associated with arbitrary and unlawful arrests. Some of the prisoners are held without contact with the outside world and assisted by a lawyer. The Mabahith operates separately from the regular police, but this is against authorized to issue in doubt.

It maintains the Ulaysha prison in Riyadh and al - Ha'ir prison 25 kilometers outside Riyadh. A record is there officially only terrorists, in particular members of al - Qaeda. According to human rights activists there, but opponents of the regime, protesters and some journalists are detained, often without charge basis. According to media reports, the authority should have held indefinitely in detention since the start of anti-terrorism program in the years 2003 to 2009, more than 9,000 people. The allegations continue to be: re-education measures for terrorists, inadequate legal proceedings, particularly non-transparent and secret proceedings before the Special Criminal Court

In Saudi Arabia, the period of detention prior to the start of a process is limited by law to six months. Some families have complained against the detention of their relatives before the Saudi administrative court. Media reports portray, however, that the Interior Ministry, which the intelligence Mabahith Exchange, has ignored court rulings, who possessed the release of prisoners after the legally permissible period of detention. The Mabahith act as if he were above the law; further is the criticism that the powers of the Mabahith exceeded the regular police to a wide and included partially ignoring court rulings that affect explicitly the illegality of the acts of the Authority and the release of prisoners.

In February 2013, came in Buraydah to a protest by women against the Mahabith. This demanded the release of their sometimes for years without charge imprisoned husbands in the prisons of Mabahith. The detainees are mostly to " jihadists ( Islamic fighters ) ." The interior minister accusing them of acts against the government.