Morocco extradites Saudi activist Hassan al-Rabea to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns of death penalty

Morocco has extradited Saudi activist Hassan Rabea to Saudi Arabia, where he may receive the death penalty like his eldest brother and two other cousins.

"He was effectively extradited to Saudi Arabia on 6 February 2023 and has disappeared since then," a spokesperson from the Geneva-based MENA rights group told The New Arab.

Hassan's brother Ahmed, currently based in Canada, said he hasn't been able to contact Hassan since his extradition to Riyadh. "Saudi authorities did not let Hassan call his family," Ahmed said to TNA. 

On 1 February, a Moroccan court ruled to extradite the 26-year-old activist to his home country, despite serious safety concerns flagged by human rights advocates.

At the request of Saudi Arabia, Hassan was arrested on 14 January at Marrakech airport on his way to Turkey. He is accused of  "collaborating with a terrorist by assisting him with illegally exiting Saudi Arabia."

The "terrorist" in question is his older brother Munir, who is wanted for protesting against the Saudi state in 2011, according to Ahmed.

"They arrested him only as a hostage to pressure us to hand over my brother Munir, the human rights activist," Ahmed told TNA.

Hassan's eldest brother, Ali, is also in prison and faces the death sentence for alleged terrorism and helping his brother Munir. Two of Hassan's cousins were executed in 2019 in a mass execution of 37 men; 33 were Shia.

Al-Rabea family are members of Saudi Arabia's Shia minority. They live in Awamiya, a town in the Qatif province that has been the site of protests over government discrimination against the Shia community. 

Over twenty human rights organisations sent a letter to Moroccan PM Aziz Akhannouch condemning the extradition of Hassan al-Rabea to Saudi Arabia, where he may face the same faith as his brother Ali and his two cousins.

"We are deeply concerned by Morocco's apparent violation of the principle of non-refoulment under international human rights and refugee laws to which Morocco is a party," read the letter.

On 6 February, the UN Committee against Torture asked Rabat to take provisional measures by suspending the extradition of Rabea, pending a review of his case.

Rabea's extradition may also violate the Moroccan Code of Criminal Procedure.

"Extraditions shall not be granted when there are substantial grounds for believing that an extradition request apparently related to an ordinary offence has, in fact, been made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing a person on the grounds of his or her race, religion, nationality or political opinion, or may aggravate this person's situation for any of these reasons," states Article 721 of Moroccan Penal Code.

Contacted by the TNA, the Moroccan justice ministry declined to comment on the case.

The Saudi activist was arrested on a warrant issued by the Arab Interior Ministers Council, a cooperative body related to the internal security and criminal matters of many Arab states. 

NGOs are worried that the council, which acts as an Arab Interpol, is easing the targeting of human rights activists in the region.