Articles for Saudi Arabia

On 12 October 2020, Alkarama submitted a complaint to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on behalf of 70-years-old religious scholar Safar bin Abdulrahman Al Hawali. This prominent scholar is arbitrarily detained since 12 July 2018 after publishing a book in which he criticised Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s international policy choices and issued recommendations to his attention.

The infamous October 2 date marks the second anniversary of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country's consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.

Since its establishment in 2004, Alkarama has submitted numerous cases of persons subjected to long periods of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment to the UN Special Procedures and, mainly, to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD). So far, all submissions made to WGAD have led to favourable Opinions, stating the arbitrary nature of the detentions.

Today, Monday, 29 June 2020, Alkarama submitted a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances regarding Yemeni preacher Abdul Aziz al-Zubayri, who has been held incommunicado in Saudi Arabian prisons since May 20, 2020.

Saudi preacher Khaled Mohammed Hamad Al-Rashid is due to complete in August 2020 a period of 15 years of imprisonment imposed by the Saudi authorities following an unfair trial and despite of an Opinion from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) condemning his detention.

Today, Thursday, May 28, 2020, the Saudi authorities released the activist and Yemeni government official, Sayyid Abdul Karim Thuail, who was arrested at Jeddah airport on March 12, 2020.
The Thuail family thanked Alkarama and other organizations, who raised his case and expressed solidarity with them, noting that Mr. Thuail was in fact being held incommunicado in al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh.

Alkarama sent today an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances regarding Mr. Abdul Karim Thuail, who was forcibly disappeared by the authorities in Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Abdul Karim Hussein Ali Thuail, 34 years old and the father of a child, is a Yemeni government official and former human rights defender. He was arrested at Jeddah International Airport on 12 March 2020, and disappeared from that moment.

Today, Friday, April 24, 2020, Alkarama informed the United Nations about the death of prominent Saudi human rights defender Dr. Abdullah Al-Hamid "Abu Bilal", calling on it to take a position regarding the fate of an exceptional figure who vowed his life to peacefully work for freedoms, justice, political reform and human rights in Saudi Arabia. .

On November 12, 2019, Alkarama submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, the case of Yemeni Officer Ibrahim al-Shamsani, tortured to death in a Saudi Arabian prison, as confirmed by a coroner's report.