Today marks a year of arbitrary detention of the Saudi lawyer and human rights defender, Waleed Abu Al Khair. His family launches a Twitter campaign at 6pm advocating for his release.
Awad Al Hayki, a 33 year-old Yemeni national has been detained in Al Qasim Prison since 18 October 2010, the day he was extradited by Qatar to the Saudi authorities. Detained in solitary confinement for almost a year, without being able to communicate with his family, he has been subjected to severe torture. To date, Al Hayiki has never been charged.
The Saudi Supreme Court has just overturned a ruling sentencing a Saudi national to the death penalty. In a tweet sent from his official twitter page this morning, Mabrook Al Sai'ari thanked Alkarama, without which his sentence would have been executed on 8 September 2013.
On 15 April 2014, 34 year-old prominent Saudi human rights defender Waleed Abu Al Khair, went to his 5th hearing session before the Special Criminal Court in Riyadh. At 8 am, he made a last phone call to his wife in Jeddah, informing her he had to turn off his cellular phone as he was entering the court room. She learnt the day after that he had been taken in the middle of his hearing to Al Hayer Prison. This is where he has been unlawfully detained and tortured ever since.
On 9 March 2013, Abdullah Al Hamid and Mohammad Al Qahtani, two prominent Saudi human rights defenders, were sentenced by the Riyadh Criminal Court to heavy prison sentences for inter alia "disobeying the ruler", "inciting disorder", "setting up an unlicensed organization" and having shared "false information presented as facts to official international bodies".
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found the detention of Yemeni national Yahya Shaqibel in Saudi Arabia is arbitrary, violating his right to liberty and freedom of religion.
Four years ago, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, eleven human rights activists founded the Saudi association for civil and political rights (ACPRA), an independent human rights organization focusing on the immense issue of arbitrary detention in the kingdom.
Four years ago, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, eleven human rights activists founded the Saudi association for civil and political rights (ACPRA), an independent human rights organization focusing on the immense issue of arbitrary detention in the kingdom. Despite a court order for its dissolution, ACPRA has been determinedly working with families of victims, encouraging them to stand up for their rights and file lawsuits against the Interior Ministry.
Tawfiq Ahmad Ali Al Sabary, a 32 year-old Yemeni national from Dhamar, was arrested while on his way to pilgrimage at Mecca on 11 June 2013 by Saudi police officers without an arrest warrant. He is currently detained in Al Madina prison and has not been charged, nor brought before a judge since his arrest.
