Australian-Saudi Man Detained in Morocco, Faces Possible Extradition to Saudi Arabia

While he arrived in Morocco to visit his wife and baby on February 8, Usama Al-Hasani was arrested upon disembarking from the plane at Casablanca International Airport. The Saudi authorities had issued an international arrest warrant against him. His wife told the SBS newspaper that he would have been transferred to the Tiflet prison, 175 kilometers northwest of Casablanca, on February 23. At Riyadh’s request, the man, who is accused of having participated in the organization of "a public opposition activity" against the Wahhabi power, will be extradited to Saudi Arabia. The trial will be held this Wednesday, March 3.

"I’m afraid of losing the father of my newborn," worries his wife, who testifies to having seen him for five minutes two days after his arrest. According to her, the former professor at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah’s detention conditions are deplorable. "The situation is catastrophic. He survives on water and bread," she confides. She expresses a terrible fear. "I’m afraid his fate will be like that of Jamal Khashoggi." This is the Saudi Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, an American resident, killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul (Turkey) in April 2018.

This fear comes at a time when the CIA, in a declassified note on February 26, directly accused the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of having approved an "operation to capture or assassinate" the Saudi dissident.