Protests against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family gain momentum in the Persian Gulf monarchy as public discontent against the regime is growing rapidly.
Many experts believe killing young protesters has become a weekly routine for the Saudi regime forces, as young protesters say they welcome death, preferring it over living under the Saudi rule.
Ali al Ahmad, director of IGA joins Press TV to share his opinion on the issue.
Following is a rough transcript of the Interview.
Press TV: First of all tell us about the significance of these ongoing protests in Saudi Arabia and what it means for the house of Saud?
Ahmad: Well, the significance of these protest is that they still continue to happen and to occur and to spread across the cities. Tonight we have seen another young man [being] killed by Saudi special forces; his name was Montazar Sa'eed Al-Abdel, just about an hour ago. The killing of a young man almost on weekly basis has not deterred the young men from protesting, from going on the streets, in fact they are welcoming such a fate because they realize that is much easier than living under the house of Saud.
Press TV: Mr. al Ahmad, back to the discussion. What can you tell us about this status of those arrested in the protests and also about the status of the political prisoners as well?
Ahmad: Saudi Arabia is one of the most horrific regimes when it come to treating prisoners in general. But especially political prisoners. Torture is legal under Saudi law for all prisoners.
Political prisoners are all of them; almost 99 percent of them are tortured. That is the common practice in Saudi Arabia. Torture can take many ways and people have died of torture in the past few years. So they are tortured, they are isolated. The Saudi government does not allow lawyers; it is one of the few countries that does [do] not allow lawyers to see their clients.
They do not allow the prisoners to have any access to lawyers or legal assistant, to see their families. Basically you are talking about a system that does not belong to this modern time, in terms of its process and arrest and judicial system in general.
It was a very sad thing to see the minister of justice of Saudi Arabia come to Washington and meet with the US justice secretary or general attorney in the United States, who is black; while in Saudi Arabia it is not allowed to have a black man become a judge in that country or a magistrate. So there is a system that is really not part of this time.
Press TV: Well, Mr. al-Ahmad I am going through the reports as we are speaking now. I believe that the protesters in the eastern province have also expressed solidarity with the people of Bahrain.
Tell us more about those calls towards Riyadh to pull out its troops from the neighboring country?
Ahmad: This is one of the driving forces behind the protests and the people in the eastern parts of Arabia have been strong supporter of the people in Bahrain, who are continuing their revolution and we are coming on the first anniversary of the revolution and February 15th, so they are themselves sympathizing and driving to the streets speaking out against their country's invasion of Bahrain and I think that it shows you that revolutions and revolution further cross border and there is no force that transfers this natural sympathy, that is why you will see this protest in Al-Qatif and the Eastern Province might be transferred to Riyadh and Al-Qasim and other cities in the country very soon.
