Saudi Arabia
A series of incident reports leaked to advocacy groups has revealed the Saudi authorities are targeting citizens — some as young as 13 — with live ammunition and arrest.
According to non-governmental organisation the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Saudi security forces are engaged in a systematic campaign targeting youngsters on motorcycles with arbitrary arrests and shooting at them using live rounds.
In one leaked incident report, 13-year-old Saleh Mehdi Muhammad Marrar was placed in a detention centre in Al-Qadeeh, having sustained two bullet wounds to his left thigh and one bullet wound to his right foot.
He and several others, including a 17-year-old and a 21-year-old, were then encouraged to go to the hospital on their own after sustaining injuries, whereupon they were arrested.
Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of IHRC, said, ‘This incident clearly illustrates the absolutely despicable conduct of the Saudi government, even when it comes to its own citizens.
‘What kind of humanity remains when someone in a position of authority can so callously target and severely injure mere children using live rounds, then be so vile as to trick them into coming to the hospital so that they may be arrested and detained?’
