US House committee urges Saudi Arabia to release doctor

WASHINGTON

The top Democrat and Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee called on Saudi Arabia Thursday to release a Saudi-American who was reportedly detained and tortured in prison.

“We are deeply concerned by reports that Dr. Walid Fitaihi, a dual U.S.-Saudi citizen in Saudi custody, has been tortured," Chairman Eliot Engel and Ranking Member Michael McCaul said in a joint statement.

"Torture and coercion of all prisoners must end. We call on Saudi Arabia to immediately release Dr. Fitaihi and allow him to travel outside Saudi Arabia," they added.

The New York Times reported last week that Fitaihi was detained in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in November 2017. He told a friend that he was dragged into a room at the hotel, where he was stripped and tortured with electric shocks in a session that lasted about an hour, according to the Times.

Fitaihi, 54, is one of dozens of people who remain imprisoned under the pretext of what the Saudi government calls a crackdown on corruption in the Kingdom. He has not been charged, nor has he faced trial.

His detention and torture took place amid deeply strained U.S.-Saudi ties over the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the ongoing Riyadh-led air campaign in Yemen.

Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 last year. After initially denying any role in his disappearance, Saudi Arabia eventually acknowledged Khashoggi was killed in its diplomatic facility, blaming his death on a rogue rendition operation that went awry.

That explanation, however, has been met with skepticism by many, including congressional Republicans and Democrats who dismiss the notion Khashoggi could have been killed without the approval of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.