Qatar frees longest-serving Saudi inmate - rights body

Riyadh: Wabran Ali Jaamal Al Kulaib, the longest-serving Saudi prisoner in a Qatari jail, has been freed, according to Hadi Bin Ali Al Yami, member of the board of directors of the Saudi Human Rights Society.

Speaking to Gulf News, Al Yami said that the relentless efforts made by the society and the initiative taken by Interior Minister Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz were crowned with success.

Wabran was imprisoned 12 years ago for his alleged involvement in the failed coup attempt against the Qatari Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. He was first sentenced to death and this was later reduced to a life term in jail.

Joy

"The government of Qatar allowed Wabran's family to visit him in jail whenever they wanted," Al Yami said.

Meanwhile, a source at the society said that the society had offered necessary advice with regard to efforts to get him released.

"This was after getting a letter from a member of his family asking it to intervene in getting their son out, who has been in jail since February 1996."

Wabran, who was then an officer with the passport department at the Salwa border point, was imprisoned after he was convicted of offering facilities to some Qatari nationals involved in the coup attempt against the Emir," the source said.

Wabran's family members confirmed that they had received a call from him saying that he would soon be home after the decision taken by the Qatari authorities to release him.

Wabran's father expressed joy over the news of his son's release.

"The family is impatient to receive him at his home in the southern region of Najran," Al Watan quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, the Saudi authorities released Eisa Al Hamid, a reform activist, on Tuesday after holding him in prison for four months for inciting women to publicly protest.

He was imprisoned in Buraida prison, in the Qaseem region, in November last year.

The government of Qatar allowed Wabran's family to visit him in jail whenever they wanted."