(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.
On April 10, 2018, Alkarama solicited the intervention of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of Saudi human rights defender Mohammad Abdullah Al Otaibi, requesting that the UN experts issue a decision calling for his immediate release.
On January 25, 2018, as a result of making use of his fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association, Al Otaibi was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment following a grossly unfair trial.
On March 29, 2018, Alkarama submitted its shadow report ahead of Saudi Arabia’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the UN Human Rights Council.
In January and February 2018, well-known Saudi activists Issa Al Nukheifi and Abdullah Al Attawi were sentenced to six and seven years’ imprisonment, respectively, following highly unfair trials as a result of their peaceful activism.
As Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia makes his first visits to Western capitals since being appointed as the Kingdom’s heir apparent, we the undersigned human rights organisations would like to draw the attent
On October 5, 2017, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued an opinion calling for the immediate release of Jaber Al Amri, a Saudi citizen detained since 2014 after publicly criticising the practice of arbitrary detention in the country and advocating for the release of his brother, still detained long after the completion of his sentence.
On October 25, 2017, Alkarama expressed concern over the ongoing clampdown on peaceful dissent in Saudi Arabia while bringing several cases of arbitrary arrests to the attention of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression (SR FREEDEX), David Kaye.
On September 26, 2017, Alkarama requested the urgent action of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, regarding the cases of two prominent Saudi human rights defenders who have been arrested in retaliation for their peaceful activism.
