GENEVA – Geneva Council for Human Rights and Justice (GCHRJ) condemned the arrest of a Saudi economic adviser after he criticized the Saudi regime because of the taxes and high prices.

GCHRJ said in a press release that the arrest of Barges Hammoud al-Barges was an episode in an ongoing series of illegal arrests.

He pointed out that the arrest of Barges appeared to be due to criticisms of the Saudi authorities because of imposing taxes and the exaggerated price rise of electricity bills in the Kingdom, which is a burden on its citizens.

The Council described the transformation of the Kingdom as a country of arbitrary arrests of its advocates, academics, human rights activists, journalists and artists, as well as businessmen and political figures.

 Geneva Council for Human Rights and Justice called for an urgent international intervention by the United Nations and other international human rights organizations to stop the arbitrary arrests in Saudi Arabia and to force it to immediately release political prisoners and detainees and stop their awful violations of human rights and public freedoms.