Saudi Activists Plan Hunger Strike

The legal defense teams of 12 Saudi activists jailed without charge have announced plans to observe a hunger strike later this week. In the first ever public protest of this kind, organizers called for a 48-hour hunger strike on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 6 and 7. In addition to advocating for their clients, the organizers express solidarity and sympathy to all political prisoners currently detained in Saudi jails, and demand “either to set the detainees free or instantly grant them fair and public trials.”

The official announcement, along with the names of the jailed activists and those who have signed on to the protest, as well as the Saudi criminal procedure laws being violated, can be found on the event’s Facebook groups page and the Google groups page.

CNN’s Middle East blog has some commentary, as does Ahmed Al-Omran at Saudi Jeans.