Kashmiri youth languishing in Saudi jail for 2 years over Facebook message to friend 

Srinagar, July 14, 2022 (PPI-OT):A Kashmiri youth, who went to Saudi Arabia to earn livelihood, is languishing in a jail in the country for the last two years without trial. According to Kashmir Media Service, the crime of the innocent 37-year-old Javaid Ahmad Mir of Chattergam is that he shared his mobile number with a Kashmiri Facebook friend based in Iran.

Javaid Ahmad Mir was arrested by Saudi police from his workplace on March 18, 2020 after he exchanged messages with his Facebook friend based in Mashhad city in Iran, his family told media in Srinagar. Javaid Ahmad Mir is a father of a two-year-old daughter, is in judicial custody in Dammam Intelligence Jail, without any trial.

“My brother’s only crime is that he had shared his WhatsApp number with a Facebook friend who was studying in Iran” Javaid’s brother Sajjad Hussain told media in Srinagar. “He didn’t know that Imtiyaz is based in Iran, he would have never entertained his texts,” Sajjad said.

Javaid, he said, has completed his graduation in 2009 and thereafter took up the job of a teacher at a private school ‘Tawheed Education Institute. He resigned from his job after receiving an offer letter from Noodle International Trading Services at Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Javaid shifted to Saudi and started working in the Chinese origin company as supervisor. According to Sajjad, the family came to know about Javaid’s detention through one of his colleagues.

Sajjad said his mother – Sara Begum – is suffering from cardiac problems and used to get regular medical treatment and financial support from her son. His father is a farmer, while Sajjad is handling a family business -which is not fetching them “too much” He said that Javaid’s wife and daughter are helpless and want him back home as soon as possible.

Javaid’s family had no contact with him for over one month of his arrest until he was allowed to call in April 2020, neither did the Saudi police allow his colleagues to meet him in the jail citing Covid-19 protocols. “Now we want help to get our kin back from Saudi Arabia,” Sajjad said.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

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