The wife of Australian citizen Osama Al-Hasani says she’s disappointed by the Australian government after her husband was handed to Saudi Arabian authorities in Morocco ahead of his expected extradition.
The businessman and former Melbourne imam was arrested at his wife’s home in Tangier, Morocco, on 8 February, hours after arriving from his home in the United Kingdom to visit his four-month-old baby.
A Moroccan court approved his extradition request on Thursday, with his international lawyer Haydee Dijkstal warning he could be transferred “at any time, without any notification”.
Late on Saturday, a Moroccan news agency reported that judicial authorities had issued a direction to hand over Dr Al-Hasani, who is a father of four, to Saudi authorities in Rabat.
Speaking to SBS News over WhatsApp on Sunday, his wife, Hana, confirmed that her husband had been taken from Tiflet Prison 2, about 60 kilometres east from Morocco’s capital, to the Saudi embassy in Rabat.
“I am disappointed by the Moroccans and Australians,” she said. “They could have helped him, stopped his deportation and prevented a family from being separated.
“They removed my husband from me and his son, they wronged an innocent person.”
It is unclear when Dr Al-Hasani will be physically transferred to Saudi Arabia.
Ms Dijkstal sent an urgent letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment on behalf of the family on 5 March calling for immediate steps to be taken to stop the violation of Dr Al-Hasani’s human rights.
The submission raised concerns that Dr Al-Hasani had been targeted by Saudi Arabia for criticising the government, giving rise to fears his right to freedom of expression and association was being violated.
“There are concerns that the motivation for Saudi Arabia’s request for his extradition might be based on his political expression that has been, in the past, critical of the government and its policies,” Ms Dijkstal said.
The extradition request was related to an alleged car theft in Saudi Arabia for which Dr Al-Hasani was acquitted of three-years-prior. Local media previously reported Dr Al-Hasani was targeted for allegedly participating in the organisation of “an activity of public opposition” to the Islamic sect Wahhabism, the dominant faith in Saudi Arabia.
Hana has disclosed her husband was forced to leave his job at the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade in 2015 due to political pressure.
Speaking to SBS News earlier this month, Hana said she feared her husband’s “fate will be like that of Jamal Khashoggi”, referring to the Washington Post columnist who was allegedly killed by the Saudi government officials in 2018.
“I cannot describe my feelings,” she said, a week after sending a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison pleading for assistance.
Before moving overseas, Dr Al-Hasani worked as a guest imam at a mosque in West Melbourne in the early 2010s where the President of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Adel Salman, said he was “quite popular” for his recitals of the Qu’ran.
His Twitter profile, which has more than 5,000 followers, says he is an “Associate Professor of business information systems” and a “consultant for international business trade”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been contacted for comment.
