Articles for Saudi Arabia

Abdulmajeed Al Zahrani (L) and Ahmad Al Zahrani (R)

(Geneva, September 7, 2018) – Two brothers of Canada-based political activist Omar Al Zahrani have been arrested in Saudi Arabia after being pressured to convince their brother to halt his activism. Ahmad and Abdulmajeed Al Zahrani’s family has not heard from the brothers since they were summoned to Dhahban Central Prison, north of Jeddah, on August 21.

(L-R) Nassima Al Sadah, Samar Badawi and Yasser Al Ayyaf

(Geneva, August 9, 2018) – On August 6, 2018, Alkarama submitted the cases of four Saudi human rights defenders and campaigners to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).

Abdelkarim Al Hawaj (L) and Mounir Aal Adam (R)

(Geneva, July 31, 2018) – On July 25, 2018, Alkarama requested the intervention of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) in the cases of two Saudi nationals sentenced to death for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in trials that did not meet fair trial guarantees.

Sheikh Safar Al Hawali

(Geneva, July 13, 2018) – Alkarama has requested the urgent intervention of several UN Special Procedures following the Saudi authorities’ arrest of 68-year-old Islamic scholar Sheikh Safar Al Hawali, his brother and four sons as part of an ongoing crackdown on freedom of opinion and expression in the country.

(Geneva, July 3, 2018) – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has published a communication sent to the Saudi authorities on December 22, 2017, expressing their “very serious concern about […] a pattern of widespread and systematic arbitrary arrests and detention of persons, including human rights defenders, for peacefully exercising their human rights to freedom of expression, belief, ass

On June 6, 2018, the report of former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (SRCT), Ben Emmerson, was published following his country visit to Saudi Arabia between April 30 and May 4, 2017.

(Geneva, June 1, 2018) – In a resolution published on May 30, the European Parliament condemned the recent wave of arrests in Saudi Arabia while calling on the Saudi authorities and the European Union (EU) to take a number of steps to protect human rights in the country.

(Geneva, May 31, 2018) – Alkarama has requested the urgent intervention of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) in the case of prominent human rights defender and co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), Mohammed Al Bajadi, who has been disappeared since his arrest last Thursday.

(Geneva, May 30, 2018) – On May 29, 2018, Alkarama submitted the case of dual Qatari and Saudi Arabian national Nawaf Al Rasheed to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID). Al Rasheed, a student at Qatar University and son of the late Prince Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Rasheed of Saudi Arabia, has been missing since he was deported to Saudi Arabia on May 12, 2018.

As of May 14, 2018, Saudi journalist Alaa Brinji has spent four years behind bars for expressing his opinion, advocating for human rights, and challenging rights violations.

Brinji, who used to write for Al-Bilad, Al-Sharq and Okaz newspapers, is one of Saudi Arabia’s best-known journalists. His arrest was accompanied by several violations of his rights, including initially being held incommunicado, denied contact with the outside world, and denied access to a lawyer throughout his trial.